The smallest of our woodpeckers is the Downy Woodpecker, who is not much bigger than an English sparrow. The picture shows two of these birds. In "The First Book of Birds" there is a picture of a flicker at his nest-hole. FOOTNOTE: [23] See Appendix, 22. XXX THE KINGFISHER FAMILY (_Alcedinidæ_)[24] MOST of the Kingfisher family belong to the tropics, but we have one who is found all over the United States. This is the BELTED KINGFISHER. [Illustration: BELTED KINGFISHER] The belted kingfisher is large and rather chunky. He is dark blue above and white below, with a bluish band across the breast. He has a fine crest and a big head, and he sits up straight as a hawk. The tail of the kingfisher is short, and square at the end. His plumage is thick and oily, so that it does not hold wet. This is very important to him in the way he gets his food, for he is an expert fisherman. He lives alone, or with his mate, near the water,--a lake, or pond, or small stream. This bird's way of getting fish is to dive for them. You may have seen him splash into the water out of sight, and in a moment come up with a small fish in his beak. Then he goes back to his perch and beats the fish to death, before he swallows it. He swallows it whole and head first, because the fins might stick in his throat if he took it tail first. After a while he throws up a little ball of the bones, scales, and skin of the fish he has eaten. It is said that the kingfisher can take a very large fish. One was shot who had swallowed a fish so long that the tail stuck out of his mouth, and could not get down. The nest of the kingfisher is in the bank of a river or lake. The birds first cut a passage or hallway. Sometimes this is only four feet long, and straight. But when stones or roots are in the way, it will be much longer and have many turns. At the end of this passage is the kingfisher nursery. This is a round room nearly a foot across, with a roof rounded up over it. It is a little higher than the passageway so that water will not run into it. Sometimes it takes the birds two or three weeks to make one of these nests, as we might expect when we think they have only beaks and feet to work with. Usually it does not take so long. If the pair are not disturbed, they will use the same nest year after year. Sometimes the bed for the nestlings is of dry grass. One was found in which the bed was entirely of the bones and scales of fish. Mr. Baily has told us about a family of kingfisher little folk whom he studied and photographed. He dug down to the nest from above, and was careful not to hurt them and to put them back safely. First Mr. Baily took a picture of them when two days old. They were queer-looking objects, with eyes not open, and not a feather to their backs. They were not so young but that they had one notion in their little round heads. That was to cuddle up close together. They were not used to much room in their dark cradle.