PICID.K — THE WOODPECKHRS. 



4t>7 



Woodpecker naTiied C. Imirdi hy ^Ir. Ca.ssiii, and dillurinj,' in .smaller size ; 

 extension of the wliitc cluiek-stripe to the very Iwse of the bill, and the 

 excess in length of the U])per hlack t'ealliers nf the crest over the scarlet. 

 These features appear to be constant, and characteristic fif a local race. 



For the reasons already adduced, we drop <J. iniprridlia from the list of 

 North American birds, altiiouuh given as such by Audul)on. 



Habits. So far as we have information in regard to the geographical dis- 

 tribution of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, it is chiefly restricted in its range 

 to the extreme Southern States, 

 and especially to those bordering 

 on tlie Gulf of Mexico. Wilson 

 states that very few, il' any, are 

 ever found north of A'irginia, 

 and not many even in that State. 

 His first specimen was obtained 

 near Wilmington, N. C. It is 

 not migratory, but is a resident 

 where found. 



Mt. Audubon, who is more 

 full tlian any other writer in his 

 account of this bird, assigns to it a 

 more extended distribution. He 

 states that in descending the 

 Ohio liiver he met with it near 

 the confluence of that river with 

 the Mississippi, and adds that it 

 is frequently met with in follow- 

 ing the windings of the latter 

 river either downwards towards 

 the sea, or upwards in the direc- 

 tion of the Missouri. On the At- 

 lantic he was inclined to make North Carolina the limit of its northern 

 distribution, though now and then individuals of the species have been 

 accidentally met with as far north as Maryland. To the westward of the 

 Mississippi he states that it is found in all the dense forests bordering the 

 streams which empty into it, from the very declivities of the Itocky Moun- 

 tains. The lower parts of the Carolinas, Georgia, North Florida, Alabama, 

 Louisiana, and Mississippi, are, however, its favorite resorts, and in those 

 States it constantly resides. 



It was observed by Dr. Woodhouse in the timber on the Arkansas Eiver, 

 and in Eastern Texas, but quite rarely in both places. It was not, however, 

 met with in any other of the government expeditions, either to the Pacific, 

 in the survey of the railroad routes, or in that for tlie survey of the Mexican 

 boundary line. It is given as a bird of Cuba by 1 )e la Sagra, in his catalogue 



VOL. II. 63 



CamprphUvs prixcipalis. 



