138 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



except a few species, rarely disfigure a healthy tree. But when they find a tree infested by 

 wood-boring larva?, they locate the insects accurately, draw them out, and devour them. 

 If, in the years that follow, the borings formerly occupied by these insects are used by a 

 colony of ants, they in their turn are dug out and destroyed. 



Usually the Woodpeckers nest in excavations in trees which they chisel out themselves. 

 The Flicker's bill is less powerful than those of other members of his family and he takes 

 advantage of natural cavities more frequently than the others. These nests vary in size 

 from the large ones in lofty trees belonging to the powerful Ivory-billed and Pileated Wood- 

 peckers to the tiny home of our familiar Downy. The Gila Woodpecker nearly always 

 selects the giant cactus, the Ivory -billed usually a cypress, but the remainder of the family 

 have no particular preference for the kind of tree. In very thinly wooded or treeless countries 

 the few species of Woodpeckers which occur there are from necessity more or less terrestrial, 

 making their excavations in banks of earth or even depositing their eggs in cavities already 

 existing, such as the brain cavity of the skull of a large mammal. The eggs of Woodpeckers 

 are invariably glossy, immaculate white. They number 4 to 8 and are deposited on small 

 chips at the bottom of the excavation, no attempt being made to construct anything like 

 a true nest. 



Most of the Woodpeckers have a wavy, galloping flight, much like that of the 

 Goldfinches. 



IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER 



Campephilus principalis (Linnccus) 



A. O. U. Number 392 



Other Names. — Woodcock ; Logcock ; Woodchuck ; 

 Ivory-bill. 



General Description. — Length, 21 inclics. Plumage, 

 blue-black. 



Color. — Adult Male: General color, glossy blue- 

 black, the primaries and tail duller black, or with bluish 

 gloss less distinct ; nasal plumes, front of lores, stripe 

 on sides of head and neck {commencing usually beneath 

 middle of eye and much narrower on this portion) 

 white, these stripes continued behind along each edge 

 of shoulders; secondaries (except basal portion), ter- 

 minal portion of primaries (extensively), except five or 

 six outermost, and under wing-coverts, white ; some- 

 times a few feathers on flanks and anal region tipped 

 with white; crest, bright red; bill, ivory-white; iris, 

 clear lemon-yellow ; legs and feet light gray, the larger 



scales paler and somewhat yellowish-gray, the claws 

 pale horn color. Adult Female: Similar in coloration 

 to the adult male, but crest zi'lwUy glossy blue-black. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually high up in a 

 cypress: entrance oval. Eggs: 3 to 5, white. 



Distribution. — Southeastern United States, north to 

 coast district of North Carolina and in the Mississippi 

 Valley to southern Indiana, southern Illinois, Missouri, 

 Oklahoma, western Kentucky, Arkansas, west to Texas 

 (Brazos and Trinity rivers), south to the Gulf coast, 

 and in Florida to the Big Cypress district south to 

 Caloosahatchie River; now extirpated over much of the 

 greater portion of its former range and existing only 

 in scattered or isolated localities in the lower Missis- 

 sippi valley and the Gulf States, chiefly in Florida and 

 .Alabaina. 



This magnificent bird is the largest of all the 

 North American Woodpeckers. It is just about 

 the size of a Crow, in fact it is fully four inches 

 longer than the Fish Crow so common along our 

 rivers and coast-line. The most striking feattire 

 of its appearance is its head. This is adorned 

 with a bill that resembles a glossy ivory dagger, 

 nearly three inches in length, and the flaming red 

 crest at the back of the head of the male is one 

 of the most animated feathered objects in 

 nattire. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is a bird 

 of astonishing strength and vigor. Often be- 



neath a diseased tree which it has attacked, in 

 quest of boring beetles or insect larv.T, huge 

 piles of bark and slabs of wood are found which 

 give convincing evidence of its power as a 

 feathered axman. 



This is a bird of the deep forest solitudes. It 

 is a great traveler and during the course of a 

 day wanders over a vast expanse of territory. 

 Unfortunately for us it has been unable to with- 

 stand the advances of civilization even to the 

 extent to which the big Pileated ^^'oodpecker has 

 survived, and to-day it must be numbered among 



