14 A RED-HEADED FAMILY. 



quickly espied me, and then there would be a 

 rapid and long flight away into the thickest 

 and most difficult part of the swamp. 



I confess that it was with no little debate 

 that I reached the determination that it was 

 my duty to rob that nest in the interest of 

 knowledge. It was the first opportunity I 

 ever had had to examine an occupied nest of 

 the Campephilus principalis, and I felt that it 

 was scarcely probable that I should ever 

 again be favored with such a chance. With 

 the aid of my Cracker host, I erected a rude 

 ladder and climbed up to the hole. It was 

 almost exactly circular, and nearly five inches 

 in diameter. With a little axe I began break- 

 ing and hacking away the crust of hard outer 

 wood. The cavity descended with a slightly 

 spiral course, widening a little as it proceeded. 

 I had followed it nearly five feet when I found 

 a place where it was contracted again, and im- 

 mediately below was a sudden expansion, at 

 the bottom of which was the nest. Five 

 beautiful pure white eggs of the finest old- 

 china appearance, delicate, almost transparent, 

 exceedingly fragile, and, to the eyes of a 

 collector, vastly valuable, lay in a shallow 

 bowl of fine chips. But in breaking away the 

 last piece of wood-crust, I jerked it a little too 

 hard, and those much coveted prizes rolled out 

 and fell to the ground. Of course they were 

 " hopelessly crushed, " and my feelings with 

 them. I would willingly have fallen in their 

 stead, if the risk could have saved the eggs. I 

 descended ruefully enough, hearing as I did so 

 the loud cry of Campephilus battling around in 

 the jungle. Once or twice more I went back to 

 the spot in early morning, but my birds did 



