WOODPECKERS 



391. Texas Kingfisher. 



Ceryle americana septentrionalis 



Range. — Southern Texas, south through Mex- 

 cio. 



This variety is much smaller than the Belted, 

 length 8 inches, and is a lustrous greenish 

 ahove, variously speckled with white, and is 

 white below, spotted with greenish. It is a 

 common and resident species in southern 

 Texas, where it lays its eggs in holes in the 

 banks along streams. The eggs are white and 

 glossy, and measure .95 x .70. 



WOODPECKERS. Order XV. PICI. 

 Family PICIDAE 



Woodpeckers are well known birds having 

 sharp chisel-like bills, sharply pointed and 

 stiffened tail feathers, and strongly clawed feet 

 with two toes forward and two back, except in 

 one genus. Their food is insects and grubs, 



which they get by boring in trees, and from under the bark, clinging to the 

 sides of trunks or the under side of branches with their strong curved nails. 

 aided by the tail, for a prop. They are largely resident where found. 



I . • ! 



many as six pure white g 



392. [VORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 



Campephilus principalis. 



Range. — Locally distributed, and rare, in 

 Florida, along the Gulf coasl and north casual 

 ly to South Carolina and Arkansas. 



" This is the largesl of the Woodpeckers found 

 within our borders, being 20 inches in length. 

 Bui <»ne other American species exceeds it in 

 size, the Imperial Woodpecker of Mexico, which 

 reaches a length of nearly two feet; as this 

 species is found within a few miles of out- 

 Mexican border, it may >>•' i"' classed as a 

 North American bird. The presenl species lias 

 a large, heavy, Ivory-white bill. The] 

 readily be identified, at a ureat distance, from 

 the Pileated Woodpecker by the large amount 

 of white on the secondaries. Thej used to be 

 I,,, t uncommonly seen In many sections of the 



southeast but are now found \>vy locally and 



only In the largesl and remote woods. They 

 ii.- t in boles iii Large treea In the most Unpen 

 etrable swamps; laying three and probablj aa 



eggs measuring 1.45 x 1.00, 



249 



