12 A RED-HEADED FAMILY. 



ments of wood half as large as my hand ; and 

 once in the Cherokee hills of Georgia I watched 

 a pileated woodpecker (Hylotomus pileatus) dig 

 a hole to the very heart of an exceedingly 

 tough, green, mountain hickory tree, in order 

 to reach a nest of winged ants. The point of 

 ingress of the insects was a small hole in a 

 punk knot ; but the bird, by hopping down the 

 tree tail-foremost and listening, located the 

 nest about five feet below, and there it pro- 

 ceeded to bore through the gnarled, cross- 

 grained wood to the hollow. 



Of all our wild American birds, I have 

 studied no other one which combines all of the 

 elements of wildness so perfectly in its char- 

 acter as does the ivory-billed woodpecker. It 

 has no trace whatever in its nature of what 

 may be called a tameable tendency. Savage 

 liberty is a prerequisite of its existence and its 

 home is the depths of the woods, remotest 

 from the activities of civilized man. It is a 

 rare bird, even in the most favorable regions, 

 and it is almost impossible to get specimens of 

 its eggs. Indeed, I doubt if there are a dozen 

 cabinets in all the world containing these eggs ; 

 but they are almost exactly similar in size, 

 color and shape to those of Hylotomm pileatus, 

 the only difference being that the latter are, 

 upon close examination, found to be a little 

 shorter, and, as I have imagined, a shade less 

 semi-transparent porcelain-white, if I may so 

 express it. 



The visit of my birds to their home in the 

 stump lasted nearly two hours. The female 

 went into and out of the hole several times 

 before she finally settled herself, as I sup- 

 pose, on her nest. When she came forth at 



