A RED-HEADED FAMILY. 15 



not appear. I made minute examination of 

 the rifled nest, and also tore out the other ex- 

 cavation, so as to compare the two. They 

 were very much alike, especially in the jug- 

 shape of their lower ends. From a careful 

 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 peculiar 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 anoth- 

 er that was less than two. Our smaller wood- 

 peckers, including Hylotomus pikatus, usually 

 make their excavations in the shape of a grad- 

 ually widening pocket, of which the entrance 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 heredi- 



