A monograph of the Alcedinidae (19211039394)

entertaining little popular work entitled ' Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist,' by the late

Mr. II. Wheelwright, better known as the 'Old Bushman.' He relates as follows (p. 127) : —

" About an hour before sunrise the bushman is awakened by the most discordant

sounds, as if a troop of fiends were shoviting, whooping, and laughing round him in one

wild chorus; this is the morning song of the 'Laughing Jackass,' warning his feathered

mates that daybreak is at hand. At noon the same wild laugh is heard, and as the sun

sinks into the west, it again rings through the forest. I shall never forget the first night

I slept in the open bush in tins country: it was in the Black Forest. I woke about day-

break after a confused sleep, and for some minutes I could not remember where I was, such

were the extraordinary sounds that greeted my ears ; the fiendish laugh of the Jackass, the

clear, flute-like note of the magpie; the hoarse cackle of the Wattle-birds; the jargon of

flocks of Leatherheads ; and the screaming of thousands of Parrots as they dashed through

the forest, all joining in chorus, formed one of the most extraordinary concerts I have ever

heard, and seemed at the moment to have been got up for the purpose of welcoming the

stranger to this land of wonders on that eventful morning. I have heard it hundreds of

times since but never with the same feelings that I listened to it then. The Laughing

Jackass is the bushman's clock, and being by no means shy, of a companionable nature, a

constant attendant about the bush-tent, and a destroyer of snakes, is regarded like the

Robin at home, as a sacred bird in the Australian forests. It is an uncouth-looking bird, a

huge species of land- Kingfisher, nearly the size of a crow, of a rich chesnut brown and

dirty white colour, the wings slightly chequered with light blue, after the manner of the

British Jay; the tail feathers long, rather pointed, and barred with brown. It has the foot

of the Kingfisher, a very formidable, long, pointed beak, and a large mouth ; it has also a

kind of crest which it erects when angry or frightened ; and this gives it a very ferocious

appearance. It is a common bird in all the forests throughout the year ; breeds in the hole

of a tree, and the eggs are white ; generally seen in pairs, and by no means shy ; their

principal food appears to be small reptiles, grubs and caterpillars. As I said before, it

destroys snakes. I never but once saw them at this game : a pair of Jackasses had disabled

a carpet-snake under an old gum-tree, and they sat on a dead branch above it, every now

and then darting down and pecking it, and by their antics and chattering seemed to con-

sider it a capital joke. I can't say whether they ate the snake — I fancy not ; at least the

only reptiles I ever found in their stomachs have been small lizards. The first sight that

struck me on landing in London was a poor old Laughing Jackass moped up in a cage, in

Kateliffe Highway: I never saw a more miserable, woe-begone object; I quite pitied my

poor old friend, as he sat dejected on his perch: and the thought struck me at the time that

we were probably neither of us benefited in changing the quiet freedom of the bush for the

noise and bustle of the modern Babylon."

Mr. E. P. Ramsay kindly sends me a note to the effect that the average dimensions of

the eggs of Dacelo gt'jas are 1*65 inches by 1*4 in breadth.

Mr. Keulemans lias been most happy in catching the attitude of the bird in the plate

of the present species, the figure being drawn from a living specimen in the Zoological

Gardens. Both races are illustrated in the plate, the nearer figure being taken from a

Queensland specimen, while the other is drawn from a bird procured by my friend Mr. J.

F. Butter, near Melbourne, and presented to me by that gentleman.

eine Monographie der Alcedinidae Sharpe 1868 Dateien aus der Biodiversitätserbebibliothek Zoologische Illustration Vögel poster ornithologische Illustrationen Schnabel

1868

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