BIRDS OF KANSAS. 333 



with the birds south of the United States, and I fail to find any 

 record of their occurrence north of 62°. 



Sp. Chae. "Fourth aud fifth quills equal and longest; third intermediate 

 between sixth and seventh. Bill blue black; more horn color beneath. Gen- 

 eral color of body, wings and tail, dull greenish black. A narrow white streak 

 from just above the eye to the occiput; a wider one from the nostril feathers 

 (inclusive), under the eye and along the side of the head and the neck; sides of 

 the breast (concealed by the wing), axillars, and under wing coverts, and con- 

 cealed bases of all the quills, with chin, and beneath the head, white, tinged with 

 sulphur yellow. Entire crown, from the base of the bill to a well-developed oc- 

 ciputal crest, as also a patch on the ramus of the lower jaw, scarlet red. A few 

 faint white crescents on the sides of the body and on the abdomen. Longer 

 primaries generally tipped with white. 



"Female without the red on the cheek, and the anterior half of that on the 

 top of the head replaced by black." 



Iris yellow; bill, upper dark horn blue, under sky blue, with 

 tips slate black; tarsus, feet and claws black. 



These birds were formerly quite common, but being of a shy 

 and solitary nature, they are fast disappearing wherever the set- 

 tlements invade their forest home. Their manner of flight is 

 undulating, like that of the family, but very strong and well sus- 

 tained. Their loud, cackling notes and vigorous strokes of the 

 bill break the stillness that surrounds them. Their large size, 

 energy and strength enable them to chip off large patches of 

 bark, and make the decaying wood fly, in their search for insect 

 life. Ants appear to be a favorite food, and when they lay dor- 

 mant during the winter months in hollows at the base and center 

 of live trees, I have known these birds to chisel in. solid hard 

 wood to the depth of four and five inches, or until the ants are 

 reached. They also occasionally feed upon berries, nuts, etc. 



Their nesting places are usually excavated in the trunks of 

 tall trees, ranging from about twenty to eighty feet from the 

 ground. Eggs four to six; pure glossy, pearly white; in form, 

 elliptical to elongate ovate. A set of five eggs, taken April 18th, 

 1887, near Giddings, Texas, from the dead top of a pin oak, 

 twenty-five feet from the ground, measure: 1.26x. 96, 1.33x. 96, 

 1.37X.96, 1.38X.97, 1.41x.97. 



