NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



"Out of sight on active wings, 

 Now thou bath'st at heaven's springs; 

 Then on dew-dipped pinions down, 



With a far resounding cry, 

 Swooping over vale and town, 

 In thy heaven-born ecstasy." 



The large white patches on the five outer primaries of the wings, when 

 the bird is flying, appear hke tattered holes caused by the shot from a 



gl-in. Hab. Entire temperate North America, chiefly eastern; abundant. 



357rt. Western Nighthawk — chordeiles popetue henryi. Clay- 

 color, with small spots and cloudings of yellowish-brown, mingled with 

 lilac; two, size 1.25 by .90. This lighter-colored form, found in the un- 

 wooded portions of western United States, has nesting habits similar to the 

 eastern species. 



358. Texan Nighthawk — chordeiles acutipennis texensis. Gray- 

 ish, or thickly marked on a white ground with small, irregular confluent 

 spots, which are a blending of black, umber and purplish-gray; two, size 

 1.20 by .87. Same general habits as the Nighthawk. 



Hab. Southwestern United States; valleys of the Rio Grande and Colorado; Texas to California and 

 southward, common. 



359. Ivory-billed Woodpecker — campephilus principalis. Crystal- 

 white; rounded in form like the eggs of all the woodpeckers; about six in 

 number; size 1.35 by i. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and 

 Florida, to North Carolina, are the favorite resorts of this bird, where it 

 constantly resides. It is common in the dark, heavily wooded swamps, 

 nesting at a great height, excavating cavities in the trunks of the live trees, 

 where it deposits its eggs on a few chips at the bottom of the hole. Au- 

 dubon says the hole is first bored horizontally a few inches, then down- 

 ward, sometimes not more than ten inches, and again to the depth of three 

 feet. Wilson says it is winding, to keep out the rain, and is sometimes 

 five feet deep. 



Hab. South Atlantic and Gulf States; north to North Carolina, along the coast, to the Ohio River. 



360. Hairy Woodpecker — picus villosus. Pure crystal-white; four 

 to six; size ,85 by .65. This Woodpecker is resident wherever occuring. 

 The nest is often excavated in a terminal limb of a lofty beech, sometimes 

 in the trunk of an apple tree, more rarely in a dead stump. 



Hab. Entire wooded portions of North America — the typical form east of the Rocky Mountains, reaching 

 the Pacific, however, in Alaska. 



361. Downy Woodpecker — Picus pubescens. Glistening white; 

 four to six, and as many as eight have been found in a nest; size .75 by 

 .62. Nest excavated in the trunk of a small, dead tree, often in the dead 



