228 ScientifiG Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



to approach. Their food consists of seeds and insects ; ants which 

 they obtain as they pass in and out of their hills, being very com- 

 monly present. In many of their habits they differ from all our 

 other woodpeckers, such as perching in the ordinary manner 

 across the branch of a tree, and seeking their food upon the ground ; 

 the latter habit occasionally brings them into curious companion- 

 ship, as for instance I have seen them feeding on a marshy meadow 

 along with plover and curlews, several hundred yards distant from 

 the nearest trees, and seemingly quite at home. The Red-shafted 

 Flicker, var. mexicanus (Swains.) is rare here ; I obtained one 

 specimen, an adult female, in an isolated clump of trees upon the 

 prairie, on the 22nd December, 1879 ; it was very wild, and it was 

 not for several days that I was able to get a shot at it. During 

 -the following month I saw a second example near the same place. 



Ceryle alcyon (Linn.) Belted Kingfisher. — This species is 

 only a migrant with us, more commonly seen during September 

 and October than at other times ; this is probably due to the 

 muddy colour of the water in the rivers and creeks which makes 

 the capture of fish difficult if not impossible. I found them gene- 

 rally by clear pools of rain water along the borders of the timber, 

 where they were feeding on crayfish. 



Geococcyx californianus (Less.) Chaparral Cock. — I never 

 had the good fortune to fall in with a specimen of this bird, though 

 itis said to be found in the wooded districts, and has been accurately 

 •described to me many times. In Dallas county, forty miles fur- 

 ther north, it is also not unfrequent, and I have seen a fine exam- 

 ple from that locality, which is preserved in the collection of Dr. 

 Thomas of Dallas. 



CoccYZUS AMERICANUS (Linn.) Yellow-hUled Guchoo. — The 

 ■ rain-crow, as this bird is called here, from an erroneous idea that 

 its cry is only heard before rainy weather, is an abundant sum- 

 mer visitor to this section, arriving about the second week in May 

 and frequenting both the dense recesses of the timber, and also 

 the thinly-wooded localities and clearings in the vicinity of towns 

 and farm-steads. The only nest which I found was placed in the 

 middle of a thick bush overgrown with vines; it contained five 

 well-grown young in the beginning of July ; they bring out but 

 one brood in a season. Occasionally these birds tap upon a tree 

 in the same way as a woodpecker ; and I have frequently found 



