4 BULLETIN 174, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Again quoting from the report of Allen and Kellogg (193Y) : 



The site of the Ivorybill's nest seems to vary considerably. Audubon states: 

 "The hole is, I believe, always made in the trunk of a live tree, generally 

 an ash or a hackberry, and is at a great height." There are, however, records 

 of their nesting in live cypress, partially dead oaks, a dead royal-palm stub, 

 "an old and nearly rotten white elm stump," etc., indicating about as great a 

 variety as shown by the pileated woodpecker. The lowest authentic nest of 

 which we have found a record, was that described by Beyer (1900) "about 25 

 feet up in a living over-cup oak," although Scott (ISSl) mentions what he 

 considered "an old nest evidently of this species," in a palmetto stub only 

 fifteen feet from the ground. The nest which we discovered in Florida, in 1924, 

 was about thirty feet up in a live cypress and there were other holes in the 

 vicinity in similar trees that had apparently been used in years past. The 

 bark had healed over in some cases and scar tissue was apparently trying to 

 close the wounds. Of the four nests examined in Louisiana, three were in oaks 

 and one in a swamp maple. The maple, seven and a half feet in circumference 

 (breast high), was partially alive, but the top where the nest was located, 

 43 feet from the ground, was dead and pithy. Of those in oak trees, one was 

 in a dead pin-oak stub about ten feet in circumference and about fifty feet 

 high, standing in more or less of a clearing. The nest was 47 feet 8 inches 

 from the ground. The other two were not measured accurately but were 

 certainly over forty feet from the ground. About the middle of May when 

 it was determined that the first two trees had been deserted, they were cut 

 down, careful measurements taken, and the contents of the holes preserved. 

 The hole in the maple was 5 inches in vertical diameter and 4% inches 

 laterally, and was slightly irregular at the bottom, as shown in the photo- 

 graphs ; that in the oak was more symmetrical with a similar vertical diameter 

 of 5 inches and a transverse diameter of 4 inches. The depth of the maple 

 nest from the top of the entrance hole was 19% inches, of which 3 inches was 

 filled with chips and "sawdust." This nest cavity was 8% inches in diameter 

 at the egg level, and the tree itself 18^/^ inches in diameter at the level of the 

 hole. The nest cavity in the oak was 20 inches from top to bottom with a 

 diameter of 8^4 inches at the egg level. The entrance hole went in 3 inches 

 before it turned abruptly downward; the tree at this point was 22 inches in 

 diameter. There was a stub just above the hole in the maple about 4 inches 

 long representing a branch that had apparently died and been broken off 

 years before and started to heal over. The oak was perfectly smooth at the 

 entrance hole, but on either side, slightly above, were the bases of two large 

 branches that could not have given the opening any protection from the 

 weather. The opening in the maple faced north, two of those in the oaks east, 

 and one west. Audubon states : "The birds pay great regard to the particular 

 situation of the tree and the inclination of the trunk ; first, because they prefer 

 retirement, and, again, because they are anxious to secure the aperture against 

 the access of water during beating rains. To prevent such a calamity the 

 hole is generally dug immediately under the juncture of a large branch with 

 the trunk." None of the nests examined by us showed this desire for protec- 

 tion from rain, and the chips at the bottom of the cavity were perfectly dry, 

 though we had had some very heavy rains shortly before they were examined. 



Audubon further states : "The average diameter of the different nests which 

 I examined was about 7 inches within, although the entrance, which is per- 

 fectly round, is only just large enough to admit the bird." Beyer (1900) 

 says : "The entrance measures exactly 4^2 inches in height and 3% inches in 

 width," and Mcllhenny (Bendire, 1895) gives the measurements of a typical 



