Mr. Barrows speaks as follows of this species:--"Abundant and breeding at all points visited. At Concepcion, where it is resident, it is by far the commonest Woodpecker. The ordinary note very much resembles the reiterated alarm-note of the Greater Yellow-legs (_Totanus melanoleucus_), but so loud as to be almost painful when close at hand, and easily heard a mile or more away. They spend much time on the ground, and I often found the bills of those shot quite muddy. They are very tough and hard to kill, and a wounded one shows about as many sharp points as a Hawk. A nest found near Concepcion, November 6, 1880, was in the hollow trunk of a tree, the entrance being through an enlarged crack at a height of some three feet from the ground. The five white eggs were laid on the rubbish at the bottom of the cavity, perhaps a foot above the ground. In the treeless region about the Sierra de la Ventana we saw this bird about holes on the banks of the streams, where it doubtless had nests." Order IV. COCCYGES. Fam. XXIV. ALCEDINIDÆ, or KINGFISHERS. The Kingfishers, which form the subject of an excellent illustrated Monograph by Mr. Sharpe[1], are but feebly represented in the New World. Out of the many varied generic forms which make up the family, only a single genus, with about eight species, is met with in the whole of the American Continent. This genus (_Ceryle_) is of wide diffusion, having also representatives in Africa and Asia. There is thus a great contrast with the Old World, where at least 120 species of Kingfishers are met with. [1] A Monograph of the Alcedinidæ, or Family of Kingfishers. By R. B. Sharpe. London, 1868-71. 261. CERYLE TORQUATA (Linn.). (RINGED KINGFISHER.) +Ceryle torquata+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 103; _Barrows, Auk_ 1884, p. 26 (Entrerios); _Sharpe, Mon. Alc._ pl. xxii. p. 73; _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 468 (Lomas de Zamora). +Megaceryle torquata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 446 (Paraná). _Description._--Above bluish grey, with narrow black shaft-stripes and some small round spots of white; wings black, with a large portion of the inner webs towards the base white, coverts like the back; tail black, crossed by white bars, central rectrices edged with bluish grey: beneath chestnut-red; throat, centre of belly, and crissum white: whole length 15·0 inches, wings 7·7, tail 5·5. _Female_ similar, but with a broad bluish-grey pectoral band. _Hab._ Central and South America.