14 Kennard, On the Trail of the Ivory-bill. [ Jan . 



from those saw-grass areas, known as Everglades, which cover the 

 greater part of southern Florida, and with which it is often confused 

 by northerners. The Big Cypress consists of a series of swamps, the 

 "main strand" with outreaching arms or "strands", and "cypress 

 heads," interspersed with broad savannahs and prairies, with occa- 

 sional sawgrass sloughs. All of these are under water for several 

 months in the year; and are dotted here and there with small 

 areas, elevated a few feet above the reach of the ordinary floods, 

 known as hammocks, which are covered with a growth of pine, 

 cabbage palm, live oaks, saw palmetto, etc., and to which, in time 

 of flood, the game of the region resorts. 



Our trip, so far as Ivory-bills were concerned, had been pretty 

 discouraging. We had secured one specimen, to be sure, but had 

 found no nest, and had learned but little of the bird. 



I do not know any better description of the bird's habits than that 

 given by Robert Ridgway in ' The Osprey ' for November, 1898, 

 in which he says, " As a result of my three trips to southern Florida, 

 I feel sure that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is not only a rare, but 

 very local bird in that part of the State, and that it only occurs in 

 large cypress swamps or their immediate vicinity, its true home 

 being within the cypress, and its feeding grounds the cabbage 

 palmetto and live oak hammocks just outside." 



"Although a far more powerful bird, the Ivory-billed looks no 

 larger at a distance than the Pileated Woodpecker, but its color, 

 its actions (particularly its manner of flight), and its notes are so 

 totally different that once seen it need never be mistaken for that 

 species, or vice versa. The Pileated Woodpecker is a noisy, active 

 bird, always in evidence from its loud yelping or cackling notes 

 or its restless movements. The Ivory-bill, on the other hand, is 

 comparatively quiet and secluded, and its notes would not attract 

 attention except from one keenly alert for new sounds, being nota- 

 ble for their nasal tone and perfect monotony rather than any other 

 quality." Mr. Ridgway goes on to say that the notes "resemble 

 nothing else so much as the toot of a child's penny trumpet, as 

 described by Wilson, or a false high note on a clarionet as Audubon 

 describes it, repeated three or more times (like pait, pait, pait), 

 with absolute monotony ; but instead of being audible for a distance 

 of half a mile as Audubon states, I am sure that those heard by 

 me would have been inaudible bevond half that distance." 



