BRANCH CHORD AT A; CLASS AYES: THE BIRDS 355 



trees. Their nests are made in holes in trees, and the 

 eggs are pure white and rounded. The harsh and shrill 

 cries of the woodpeckers are familiar to all. 



The largest and one of the most interesting wood- 

 peckers is the ivory-billed (Campephilus principalis], 

 twenty inches long, glossy blue-black, with a high head- 



1 





W. E. 



FlG. 139. The yellow-hammer, Colaptes auratus. (Photograph by 

 Carlin; permission of G. O. Shields.) 



crest which is scarlet in the male. This bird lives in the 

 heavily wooded swamps of the Southern States. Among 

 the more abundant and widespread, and hence better 

 known, woodpeckers are the yellow-hammers (fig. 139) 



