WOODPECKERS 



391. Texas Kingfisher. 



Cerylc ainericana sepfentrionalis 



Range. — Southern Texas, south through Mex- 

 cio. 



This variety is much smaller than the Belted, 

 length 8 inches, and is a lustrous greenish 

 above, variously speckled with white, and is 

 white below, spotted with greenish. It is a 

 common and resident species in southern 

 Texas, where it lays its eggs in holes in the 

 banks along streams. The eggs arc white and 

 glossy, and measure .95 x .70. 



WOODPECKERS. Order XV. PICI. 

 Family PICIDAE 



Woodpeckers are well known birds having 

 sharp chisel-like bills, sharply pointed and 

 stiffened tail feathers, and strongly clawed feet 

 with two toes forward and two back, except in 

 one genus. Their food is insects and grubs, 



which they get by boring in trees, and from under the bark, clinging to the 

 sides of trunks or the under side of branches with their strong curved nails, 

 aided by the tail, for a prop. They are largely resident where found. 



Texas Kinsfi'"'her 



392. IVORY-BILLEU WoODPECKER. 



Campepliilus principalis. 



Range. — Locally distributed, and rare, in 

 Florida, along the Gulf coast and north casual- 

 ly to South Carolina and Arkansas. 



This is the largest of the Woodpeckers found 

 within our borders, being 20 inches in length. 

 Rut one other American species exceeds it in 

 size, tlie Imperial Woodpecker of Mexico, wliich 

 reaches a length of nearly two feet; as this 

 species is found within a tew miles of our 

 IVIexican border, it may yet be classed as a 

 North American bird. The present species has 

 a large, heavy, ivory-white bill. They can 

 readily be identified, at a great distance, from 

 the Pileated Woodpecker by the large amount 

 of white on the secondaries. They used to be 

 not uncommonly seen in many sections of tlie 

 southeast but are now found very locally and 

 only in the largest and remote woods. Tliey 

 nest in holes in large trees in the most impen- 

 etrable swamps; laying three, and probably as 

 many as six pure white glossy eggs measuring 1.45 x 1.00. 



249 



lA-ory-billed \\'norlpprker 



