IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER 11 



few minutes of the day without uttering them." They seem much more likely 

 to call when they are alarmed, as when they discover an intruder in their 

 haunts. Both birds give the call, hut that of the female is somewhat weaker. 

 In addition to this kent note, as it is called by the natives of Louisiana, and 

 because of which they call the birds "Kents," they have a variety of low 

 conversational notes when they exchange places at the nest, which are sug- 

 gestive of similar notes of the Flicker ; but they never, so far as we know, 

 give a call at all similar to the pup-pnp-pvp ! of the pileated, nor have we ever 

 heard them sound a real tatoo like other woodpeckers, such as described by 

 Thompson (1885), and which Mcllhenny (Bendire, 1895) compares to the "roll 

 of a snare drum." The birds in Florida and all those in Louisiana telegraphed 

 to each other by single or double resounding whacks on the trunk or dead 

 branches. Mr. Kuhn who has had years of experience with them, likewise 

 has never heard any notes or tatoos that were comparable with those of the 

 Pileated. Our observations agree with Audubon's, rather than with those of 

 some others, in that "it never utters any sound while on the wing." 



Tanner (MS.) reports, however, that in his studies during 1937 he 

 occasionally heard a rapid succession of "kents" given on the wing as 

 one bird flew in to join another. 



The calls of the two large species of woodpeckers are so distinct 

 that they should not be confused with each other or with those of 

 any other birds. The fact, however, that ivorybills are continually 

 being reported, even from the Northern States, indicates how unob- 

 servant many people are and how necessary it is to stress even such 

 conspicuous differences as those mentioned above. 



Winter. — Ivory-billed woodpeckers are apparently not only non- 

 migratory but also sedentary and perhaps spend their entire lives 

 within a few miles of the spot where they were hatched. At least, 

 once a pair has established a territory it seems to cling to that area 

 winter and summer, and Tanner (MS.) reports one pair using the 

 same roosting hole in December that they used the preceding April. 

 These territories are doubtless several miles in diameter, but the 

 tendency was for the birds to build up small communities in certain 

 areas until in former years, when their distribution was normal, they 

 were reported as fairly common by observers who happened upon 

 one of these communities. On the other hand, there were perhaps 

 always large areas of similar timber uninhabited by them, so that with 

 equal truth by equally competent observers they were called ex- 

 tremely rare. How much farther they range during the winter than 

 during the nesting season has not yet been worked out, but doubtless 

 the area covered at such times is considerably larger, and this ac- 

 counts for sporadic records of birds in the nonbreeding seasons in 

 areas where no nests have been located and where no one has been able 

 to find the birds subsequently. 



The family groups apparently keep together until the following 

 nesting season, and Mr. Kuhn has reported seeing groups of from 

 three to five birds even as late as early March. Hoyt (1905) states 



