A RED-HEADED FAMILY. 33 



jug-shape of their lower ends. From a care- 

 ful study of all the holes (apparently made by 

 Campephilus) that I have been able to find 

 and reach in either standing or fallen trees, I 

 am led to believe that this jug-shape is pecul- 

 iar to the ivory-bill's architecture, as I have 

 never found it in the excavations of other 

 species, save where the form was evidently the 

 result of accident. The depth of the hole 

 varies from three to seven feet, as a rule, but I 

 found one that was nearly nine feet deep and 

 another that was less than two. Our smaller 

 woodpeckers, including Hylotomus pileatus, 

 usually make their excavations in the shape of 

 a gradually widening pocket, of which the en- 

 trance is the narrowest part. 



It is curious to note that beginning with the 

 ivory-bill and coming down the line of species 

 in the scale of size we find the red mark on 

 the head rapidly falling away from a grand 

 scarlet crest some inches in height to a mere 

 touch of carmine, or dragon's blood, on crown, 

 nape, cheek, or chin. The lofty and brilliant 

 head-plume of the ivory-bill, his powerful beak, 

 his semi-circular claws and his perfectly spiked 

 tail, as well as his superiority of size and 

 strength, indicate that he is what he is, the 

 original type of the woodpecker, and the one 

 pure species left to us in America. He is the 

 only woodpecker which eats insects and larvae 

 (dug out of rotten wood) exclusively. Neither 

 the sweetest fruits nor the oiliest grains can 

 tempt him to depart one line from his heredit- 

 ary habit. He accepts no gifts from man, and 

 asks no favors. But the pileated woodpecker, 

 just one remove lower in the scale of size, 

 strength, and beauty, shows a little tendency 

 3 



