WOODPECKERS 159 



feet, aided by the powerful bill; the mouth of the burrow is 

 usually about 2 feet below the top of the bank, and the tunnel 

 extends horizontally into the bank for a distance of 4 to 8 feet, 

 being somewhat enlarged at the inner end to receive the eggs. 



The birds are rather solitary in habit, though several pairs 

 may be found on the same pond; they spend much of their 

 time quietly resting on some favorite stub overhanging the 

 water, scanning intently the water beneath them until a fish 

 is spied; launching into the air, the bird poises on beating 

 wings at a height of perhaps 10 or 15 feet, and when the 

 proper moment arrives plunges into the water with a splash, 

 seizing its prey in its bill. The fish is usually carried to a 

 convenient perch to be eaten, or to the nest to be fed to the 

 young. When flying over the water, the kingfisher gives vent 

 to his characteristic, loud, rattling call. 



Food habits. — Barrows says of this bird : 



The food of the Kingfisher consists very largely of fish, main- 

 ly the young of shallow-water species, principally minnows, 

 chubs, and related fish. Much complaint is made by fishermen 

 about the damage done by the Kingfisher, but this is almost 

 entirely imaginary. In a few cases, persons who are raising 

 gold fish, trout and other fish in large quantities and in ex- 

 posed situations, may suffer somewhat from the visits of the 

 Kingfisher, but the harm done on open streams and ponds is 

 infinitesimal.* 



In addition to fish, this bird consumes crawfish, frogs, 

 lizards, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, and occasionally ber- 

 ries. 



WOODPECKERS: Family Picidae. 



IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER : Campephilus principalis 



(Linnaeus) . 



State records.— The splendid ivory-billed woodpecker, once 

 numerous in all the large swamps of the Southern States, has 

 been exterminated over the greater part of its range and is 

 undoubtedly extinct in Alabama. In 1859, Gosse, writing 



♦Barrows, W. B., Michigan bird life, pp. 842-843, 1912. 



