THE IVOKY-BILLED WOODTECKElt. 43 



what the people call 'Inini-outs.' These are large tracts of heavy timber which 

 the forest fires have <lestroyed; and the dead trees harbor beetles, etc. A nest 

 which I examined was dug in a live cypress aljout 50 feet high."' 



Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny has kindly furnished me witli tlic following notes on 

 this interesting species: "In the cypress swamps adjacent to Avery's Island, 

 Louisiana, these noble birds are still quite common, and here, in their favorite 

 hainits, I have watched them for j^ears. I believe they remain mated for life, 

 for I have observed se\-eral pairs of tliem year in and year out, and can always 

 find them near tlie spot where they have their nest or winter home, from 

 which place they are hard to drive away, thereliy showing a fondness for 

 locality seldom seen in birds of this family. The nest is generally placed 

 in a cypress or tupelo gum tree, one that is })artly dead being preferred, 

 and the cavity is excavated in the dead part of the tree. I have never 

 found a nest in wood in which there was sap, or in rotten wood. The site 

 for the nest being chosen, the female begins the excavation during- the last week 

 in March or the beginning of April, and from eight to fom-teen days are spent 

 in finishing it, the female doing all the work, while the male sits around and 

 chips the bark from the neighboring- trees. The eggs are deposited as early as 

 April 9, on which date I took a set of three fresh eggs in 1892, and on May 19 

 I took from the same pair, in the same tree, but in a lower excavation, a set of 

 four eggs in which incubation was considerably advanced. But one brood is 

 reared in a season, and the young- remain with the parents until the mating 

 season in the following year. 



"A typical nest of tliis liird is one I found on May 2, 1S92. It was 

 situated in a partly dead cypress, 41 feet up. The entrance ^vas o%al and 

 measures 4^ l)y .Ojf inches. The excavation was 21 J inches deep, and was 

 much larger at the bottom than at the top. It contained three eggs, deposited 

 on abotit an inch of fine chips. The eggs measured 1.40 by 1.01, 1.38 by 1.02, 

 and 1.37 by 1.02 inches; they are very glossy and quite pointed. When the 

 young are hatched, both parents feed them, often going quite a distance into the 

 open country in search of food. As soon as they leave the woods they mount 

 to a considerable height, their flight being- very strong, and, like that of all 

 Woodpeckei-s, undulating. The oidy note I have heard these birds give is 

 made while on the wing; it is very shrill, and resenddes somewhat the call of 

 the Pileated Woodpecker, but is quite beyond being put on paper; the call of 

 the female does not perceptibly difier from that of the m;de. They are very silent 

 birds at all times, and during the breeding- season I have never lieard their cry. 

 They have, however, ancttlicr mode of calling each otlici-: one bird will alight on 

 a dry limb of some tree and rap on it with its l)ill so fast iind loud tliat it 

 sounds like the roll of a snare drum; this it continues to do at siiort intervals 

 imtil its mate comes. When in search of food this V)ird evinces great cleverness. 

 It will alight on a dead Iind), and after tapping it a few times witli its l)cak it 

 puts its ear to the wood and listens for the movements of any grub that may be 



'The Auk, Vol. X, 1893, p. 338. 



