30 BY~WAYS AND BIRD-NOTES. 
tough, green, mountain hickory tree, in order 
to reach a nest of winged ants. The point of 
ingress of the insects was a small hole in a 
punk knot; but the bird, by hopping down the 
tree tail-foremost and listening. located the 
nest about five feet below, and there it pro- 
ceeded to bore through the gnarled, cross- 
grained wood to the hollow. 
Of all our wild American birds, I have 
studied no other one which combines all of the 
elements of wildness so perfectly in its char- 
acter as does the ivory-billed woodpecker. It 
has no trace whatever in its nature of what 
may be called a tamable tendency. Savage 
liberty is a prerequisite of its existence, and its 
home is the depths of the woods, remotest 
from the activities of civilized man. It is a 
rare bird, even in the most favorable regions, 
and it is almost impossible to get specimens of 
its eggs. Indeed, I doubt if there are a dozen 
cabinets in all the world containing these eggs; 
but they are almost exactly similar in size, 
color and shape to those of “Yylotomus pileatus, 
the only difference being that the latter are, 
upon close examination, found to be a little 
shorter, and, as I have imagined, a shade less 
semi-transparent porcelain-white, if I may so 
express it. 
The visit of my birds to their home in the 
stump lasted nearly two hours. The female 
went into and out of the hole several times 
before she finally settled herself, as I suppose, 
on her nest. When she came forth at the end 
of thirty or forty minutes, she appeared ex- 
ceedingly happy, cackling in a low, harsh, 
but rather wheedling voice, and evidently 
anxious to attract the attention of the male, 
