COLLECTING. 1 9 



ilar situations. I shoot them with light charges 

 of dust-shot, fired from my collecting gun. 



Alcidinid^e : Kingfishers. — These noisy birds 

 are found plentifully in the vicinity of streams. 

 They are shy and require a heavy charge of number 

 eight to bring them down. 



CucuLiDiE : Cuckoos. — The roadrunner of Cali- 

 fornia, Texas, and intermediate locality, occurs in 

 the sage bush, but our species of cuckoos, even 

 the mangrove, inhabit thickets from which they 

 occasionally emerge. They are usually betrayed 

 by their notes. They are easily killed, their skin 

 being very thin and tender. 



Picid.e: Woodpeckers. — Occur, as a rule, in 

 the woodlands, but the smaller species and the 

 golden-winged inhabit orchards. They are all 

 tough birds to kill. They are a generally dis- 

 tributed family, but some species are confined to 

 certain localities, for example, the great ivory- 

 billed is not found outside of Florida, and even 

 there, is confined to a limited area, and very rare. 

 Strickland's woodpecker has as yet only been found 

 in the United States in a single range of moun- 

 tains in Arizona. 



Psittacid,e : Parrots. — Our Carolina paroquet 

 is now exceedingly rare out of Florida, and then 



