THE OSPREY. 



AM ILLUSTRATED AUOAZIMC Or POPULAI? ORMLrHOLOOY. 

 Published Monthly excci^f In Julij and august. 



Volume III. 



NOVEMBER, J898. 



Number 3. 



Original Articles. 



THE HOME OF THE IVORY-BILL. 



By RoEEKT RiDGWAT, Washington, D. C. 



N two previous 

 trips to southern 

 i'"lorida in search 

 of birds specially 

 •sired from that re- 

 oii, no trace was dis- 

 ivered of the Ivory- 

 lied Woodpecker, 

 ouffh likely localities 

 ong the entire leiiffth 

 the Kissiinmee Kiver 

 pre most carefnily ex- 

 ored. Few persons 

 o u n d who thought 

 ew the bird, and in fol- 

 np the clues W'liich 

 rnished, their bird in 

 ise turned out to be 

 odpecker, an abundant 

 throus'liout the wooded por- 



thev 



species 

 tions of the peninsula 



Having subsequently received reliable infor- 

 mation that the Ivory-bill was to be found in 

 the Big Cypress district southeast of Fort 

 Myers, I visited that region last winter and 

 spent two mouths there, chiefly in or near the 

 large bodies of cypress from forty to sixty 

 miles southeast of Fort Myers, but including a 

 trip up the Caloosahatchie River to Fort 

 place, at the southern end of Lake Flirt, im- 

 uiedialely opposite the junction of the latter 

 with Okoloacoochee Solngh. 



During the two months spent in search for 

 this bird only four were heard, three seen, 

 and two secured, notwithstanding the fact 

 that it was constantly the special object in 

 view, davs. altogether, being spent in floun- 

 dering through the most difficult and often 

 wholly impassable cypress swamps, and hours 

 at a time passed in sitting quietly among the 

 cypress with eyes and ears alert. We started 

 ■nto the wilderness .January IRth. but up to 

 Febrnarv ISth neither sight nor sound of an 

 Ivory-bill rewarded our vigil.nnce, and T had 

 ;ilninst come to regard the bird as a mvth. 

 Late in the evening of February l.'ith, however, 

 the reward of patience and perseverance came; 



and, as so often happens, it came toward the 

 end of trials and hardships which could not 

 adequately be described. 



It was just before the moment when, in 

 that southern latitude, daylight is suddenly 

 blotted out and darkness settles over the 

 earth, that 1 was making my way fast as pos- 

 sible out of the last of several cypress 

 "strands," which, with intervening saw-grass 

 marshes and bodies of all but impenetrable 

 tropical jungle, for several hours had 

 sorely tested my strength and endurance in 

 my effort to reach camp. I had foolishly at- 

 tempted to return by a "short cut,"' and 

 finally realized that it would be impossible to 

 reach cam]) that day, for travel in that wil- 

 derness at night is a physical impossibil- 

 ity, .lust as 1 was walking out of the last 

 cypress and hurrying to reach a suitable 

 caiii])ing place, T heard a strange note. It 

 was in no wa,y remarkable except that it was 

 quite new to me, and T was too tired and 

 worried over the situation to pay much at- 

 tention to it. In a moment, however, the au- 

 thor of the notes flew from a clump of "cab- 

 bage" (iialnietto) trees into the swamp at my 

 right, and was at once recognized as the long- 

 songlit Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Kealizing 

 the futility of then attempting to get the 

 bird as well as the urgent necessity of 

 preparing for my lonely bivouac, all possible 

 haste was made to reach a beautiful pal- 

 metto hammock some five hundred yards 

 ahead, in order to employ the few remaining 

 minutes of daylight in gathering tirewood and 

 selecting a suitable camping place. Besides, 

 I had lost interest in Ivory-billed Woodpeck- 

 ers, and thought the one seen to be the most 

 funereal looking', and its note the most doleful, 

 of any bird seen or heard in all my experience. 

 Xo doubt the circumstances had much to do 

 with these disagreeable, and most disappoint- 

 ing impressions of a bird the first sight of 

 w'hich I had for many years oloked forward to 

 with the keenest and most enthusiastic antici- 

 pations. 



Starting at the earliest sign of daylight, I 



