IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER.— Campc/iAi/iM principalis. 



in which the eggs are laid. The following account of the nesting of this bird is given by 

 Audubon : — 



" The Ivory-biUed Woodpecker nestles earlier in spring than any other species of its 

 tribe. I have obsen-ed it boring a hole for that purpose in the beginning of Slarch. The 

 hole is, I believe, always made in the trunk of a live tree, generally of an ash or a hagberry, 

 and is at a great height. 



The birds pay great regard to the particular situation of the tree, and the inclination 

 of its 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. It is first bored horizontally for a few inches, then directly downwards, and 

 not in a spiral manner, as some people have imagined. According to circumstances, this 

 cavity is more or less deep, being sometimes not more than ten inches, whilst at otlier 

 times it reaches nearly three feet downwards into the core of the tree. I have been led 

 to think these differences result from the more or less necessity under which the female 

 may be of depositing her eggs, and again have thought that the older the Woodpecker is, 



