IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER 6 



Courtship. — Nothing seems to have been written on the courtship 

 of the ivorybill except the observations of Allen and Kellogg (1937) : 



Our only observations were made in Florida about 6 a. m., on April 13, 1924. 

 We had discovered this pair of ivorybills at about the same time the preceding 

 morning when they came out of the cypress swamp and preened their feathers 

 and called a few times from the top of a dead pine before going off together 

 to feed. They had made such a long flight the previous day that we were unable 

 to find them again, but that night, still traveling together, they had returned 

 to the same group of medium-sized cypress trees which they had apparently 

 left in the morning and in which there was one fresh hole in addition to four or 

 five other old ones in the near vicinity. On the morning of the 13th, they 

 called as they left these cypress trees and flew to the top of a dead pine at 

 the edge of the swamp, where they called and preened. Finally the female 

 climbed up directly below the male and when she approached him closely he 

 bent his head downward and clasped bills with her. The next instant they 

 both flew out on to the "burn," where we followed their feeding operations for 

 about an hour. 



Nesting. — As before stated, while there are a few records of Febru- 

 ary nesting, the most definite records are for March, April, and early 

 May, as follows : 



April 6, . M. Thompson, Okefinokee swamp, Georgia. Laying. 



April 9, 1892. E. A. Mcllhenny, Avery swamp, Louisiana. Three fresh eggs. 



April 10, . Dr. S. W. Wilson, Altamaha swamp, Georgia. Four eggs. 



April 15, 1893. A. Wayne, Florida. A young female about 2 weeks out of the 

 nest. 



April 19, 1893. Ralph Collection, Lafayette County, Fla. Three eggs. 



May 2, 1892. E. A. Mcllhenny, Avery swamp, Louisiana. Three eggs. 



May 19, 1892. E. A. Mcllhenny, Avery swamp, Louisiana. Four eggs, a second 

 laying. 



May (early) 1894. E. A. Mcllhenny, Avery swamp., Louisiana. Five young, 

 3 days old. 



May 3, 1885. Capt. B. F. Goss, Jasper County, Tex. Three eggs. 



July 1897. George G. Beyer, Franklin Parish, La. 



March 4, 1904. Brown brothers (Hoyt), feeding young. 



March 16, 1904. R. D. Hoyt, Taylor County, Fla. Large young. 



March 4, 1905. R. D. Hoyt, Claremont County, Fla. Two eggs, incubation 

 advanced. 



March 24, 1905. R. D. Hoyt, Claremont County, Fla. Two eggs slightly incu- 

 bated (second laying of the preceding). 



April 13, 1924. A. A. Allen, Taylor Creek, Fla. Nest completed. Incubation 

 not yet started. 



April (early) 1931. J. J. Kuhn, northern Louisiana. Incubating. 



May 13, 1934. J. J. Kuhn, northern Louisiana. Probably small young. 



April 6, 1935. A. A. Allen and P. P. Kellogg, northern Louisiana. Incubating. 



April 9, 1935. A. A. Allen and P. P. Kellogg, northern Louisiana. Building. 



April 25, 1935. A. A. Allen and P. P. Kellogg, northern Louisiana. Incubating. 



May 10, 1935. A. A. Allen and P. P. Kellogg, northern Louisiana. Small young. 



