^°19?S^^] Beyer, Allison and Kopman, Birds of Louisiana. 445 



173. Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythrophthalmus). This species 

 is decidedly rare, though the difficulty of always distinguishing it from the 

 preceding species doubtless causes it to be overlooked sometimes. A close 

 lookout for it in southeastern Louisiana during the past ten or twelve 

 years, however, has resulted in the observation of but one individual, 

 which was seen at New Orleans, October S-11, 1899. At Bay St. Louis, 

 Miss., it has been observed of late years on the following dates: August 15, 

 1898; April 14, 1902; and October 15, 1902. It occurs only as a transient, 

 of course. 



174. Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon). Occurring chiefly along 

 the coast, this species is nevertheless to be looked for at some season of the 

 year on every water-course in the State. In winter it is almost confined to 

 the coast and to the vicinity of the larger bodies of fresh water; but in the 

 breeding season it is frequent also on the small creeks of the pine regions, 

 and the stagnant sloughs of the swamps. 



The character of the nest varies greatly with differing conditions of soil: 

 On the coast it is content with such elevations as can be found on the 

 shores, and the burrow is sometimes scarcely more than a pocket in the 

 clayey banks; in the upper districts, the site is often far from water, and 

 the soft, coarse-grained soil renders easy the excavation of a burrow five 

 or six feet deep, enlarged at the end, and often partly lined with leaves and 

 pine straw; and, finally, a unique condition exists in the extensive gum- 

 swamps in the lake region of the southeast, where the land — always 

 submerged — is perfectly flat, and nothing stands above water except 

 innumerable trees and stumps of Nyssa: the nest is placed in the top of a 

 decaying stump, with no attempt at excavation. 



The kingfisher is charged with much harm to the levees along the 

 Mississippi River, in which the nest-burrows are said to be very long and 

 tortuous. It is possible that the softness of the soil is conducive to such 

 extensive burrowing; but the matter has not yet been sufficiently investi- 

 gated. At any rate, the great destructiveness to young crawfish that is 

 acknowledged to be characteristic of the kingfishers in the fertile alluvial 

 districts, would seem to offset the damage done to the levees; for the 

 constant burrowing of these crustaceans, near the water-line, is a source 

 of danger and annoyance to those dependent upon the levees for pro- 

 tection. 



A well-marked migration takes place during the last week of March; 

 the increase at that time is obvious everywhere, and it is then that the 

 species first appears on the small streams of the interior. Two of the 

 writers found, on March 25, 1907, what seemed to be a temporary resting- 

 place constructed by a newly-arrived kingfisher, which was seen near it: 

 this was a shallow pocket in the high bank of a creek in the interior, lined 

 with green moss and pine straw. Whether or not such structures are 

 usual, and whether this was intended to serve later as a nest, I cannot say: 

 but deeper burrowing would have been easy, in the sandy soil of this bluff. 

 175. Ivory-billed Woodpecker {Campephilus principalis). This 



