372 



PRACTICAL ZOOLOGY 



slender birds of solitary habits and with peculiar vocal powers 

 which have given them their common name. The belted king- 

 fisher (Fig. 247) lays its five to eight white eggs at the end of a 

 horizontal hole about six feet deep dug by the birds usually in 

 the bank of a stream. The kingfisher captures small fish by 

 hovering over a stream and then plunging into the water and 



securing the unsuspecting 

 prey in its bill. 



Woodpeckers. — 

 About fifty species of 

 woodpeckers occur in 

 North America. The 

 downy (Fig. 227), hairy, 

 and red-headed wood- 

 peckers, the flicker, and 

 the yellow-bellied sap- 

 sucker are the best known. 

 Woodpeckers use their 

 chisel-shaped bills for ex- 

 cavating holes in trees, 

 at the bottom of which 

 their eggs are laid, or for 

 digging out grubs from 

 beneath the bark. Most 

 of them are of great bene- 

 fit because of the insects they destroy, but the yellow-bellied 

 sapsucker is harmful, since it eats the cambium of trees and 

 sucks sap. 



NlGHTHAWKS, WhIPIOORWILLS, SWIFTS, AND HUMMING 



Birds. — The whippoorwill inhabits the woods and thickets 

 of eastern North America. It is most active after sundown and 

 early in the morning, when it captures its insect food on the wing. 

 The two eggs are laid on the leaves in the woods (Fig. 221). 



The nighthawk (Fig. 248) has a range similar to that of the 

 whippoorwill. During the day it perches on a limb, fence 



Fig. 254. — Phoebe building a nest above 

 the window on the front porch of a house. 

 (Photo, by Hegner.) 



