50 
NOTES ON THE FOOD OF BIRDS 
are also acceptable prey. In southern Arizona, for instance, 
where running 1 streams are few, I have found kingfishers 
breeding in localities where fish must have formed but a 
small percentage of their daily fare; there they lived princi¬ 
pally on lizards, beetles, and large grasshoppers. I have 
more than once seen one of these birds perched on some twig 
overhanging a dry, sandy river bed, where no water was to 
be found within several miles, on a watch for the kind of food 
procurable in such localities.”—Capt. Bendire. 
These kingfishers are found along the Gallinas River, 
near Las Vegas, where they doubtless live on the small fish 
inhabiting the river. The fish living in this part of the Gal¬ 
linas (kindly identified for me by Dr. B. W. Ever matin) are 
Leuciscus nigrescens and Bhinichthys cataractce dulcis. These 
are small fish, of no economic importance. Dr. Bendire says, 
“By far the larger number of fish caught by the kingfisher 
consist of species not considered worth much as food fishes, 
and they rarely average over three inches in length.” Mr. 
Wm. Jones tells me that at the Kronig Lakes, N. M., he saw 
Kingfishers take comparatively large fish, six inches or over 
in length. 
The Shrike 
The wliite-rumped Shrike (Lanius ludoricianus excubitoroi- 
des) is a common bird in the Mesilla Valley, and everyone 
knows how it hangs lizards, grasshoppers, and even mice 
and snakes, upon the mesquite thorns. Mr. Birtwell re¬ 
ports the shrike as preying on garter-snakes and grass¬ 
hoppers. 
The Band=tailed Pigeon 
Mr. Birtwell reports that this bird (Columba fasciata) 
feeds almost exclusively on acorns during the winter. 
The Poor=will 
Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, as Mr. Birtwell informs me, has re¬ 
corded (Auk, Oct. 1885) that the Poor-will (Phalcenoptilus nut- 
tallii) was seen at Fort Wingate capturing moths, and some 
of the birds when shot were found to have their throats 
