498 Noirrii amkiucax jjihds. 



(if tliu Itirds of thiit isliuiil, as (tliHorved liy liiiii, Oetoltor, IHaU, and liy Dr. 

 Jolin (lundlacli, in Ids list uf the iiirds tliat lnvud in Cuba. It is not uwn- 

 tionuil liy Go.sse among tim liinls uf .faniaica, nor liy tlu; Nowtons as found 

 in St. ("roix. As it is not a nnj^ratory liird, it niiiy In; ru^ardcid as lireediuf,' in 

 ail its localities, oxccpt wlieru it is oliviously an accidental visitant. 



Wilson, who novor luut with the neat of this Woodjiecker, states, on the 

 authority of reliabh; informants, that it breeds in the lar<;e-tindiered cypress 

 s\vami)s of the Carolinas. In the trunks of these trees at a eonsitlerable 

 height from the groinid, lioth jiarents working alternately, tliese liirds dig out 

 a largo and cajiacious cavity for their eggs and young. Trees thus dug out 

 have fretjuently been cut down with both the eggs and the young in thcaii. 

 The hole was described to Wilson as generally a little winding, to keep out 

 the rain, and sometimes live feet deep. The eggs were said to be generally 

 four, sometimes five in number, as large as jiuUets', pure white, and equally 

 thick at both ends. The young make their ajjpearance about the middle or 

 end of Juno. 



]\Ir. Audubon, whose account of the breeding-habits of the Ivory-liill is 

 given from his own immediate observations, supjilies a more niimite and de- 

 tailed history of its nesiing. He states that it breeds earlier in spring than 

 any other species of its tribe, and that he has observed it boring a hole for 

 that purpose as early as the beginning of March. This hole he lielieved to 

 be always made in the trunk of a live tree, generally an ash or a hackberry, 

 and at a great height. It pays gi-eat regard to the jiarticular situation of the 

 tree and the inclination of the trunk, both with a view to retirement and to 

 secure the aperture v. ainst rains. To jirevent the latter injury, the hole is 

 generally dug ii imediately under the protection of a large bmnch. It is 

 first bored horizontally a few inches, then directly downward, and ncjt in a 

 si)iral direction, as Wilson was informed. This cavity is sometimes not 

 more than ten inches in dej)th, while at other times it reaches nearly three 

 feet downward into the heart of the tree. The older the bird, the deeper its 

 hole, in the o])inion of ]Mr. Audubon. The average diameter of the different 

 nests which Mr. Audubon examined was about seven inches in the inner 

 parts, although the entrance is only just large enough to admit the bird. 

 Both birds work most assiduously in making these excavations. ^Ir. Audu- 

 bon states that in two instances where the Woodjieckers saw him watching 

 them at their lalxirs, while they were digging their nests, they abandoned 

 them. For the first brood, he states, there are generally six eggs. These are 

 deposited on a few chips at the bottom of the hole, and are of a pure white 

 color. The young may be seen creeping out of their holes aliout a fortnight 

 before they venture to fly to pny other tree. The second brood makes its 

 appearance about the loth of August. In Kentucky and Indiana the T\ory- 

 bill seldom raises more than one brood in a season. Its flight is described 

 by Audubon as graceful in the extreme, though seldom prolonged to more 

 than a few hundred yards at a time, except when it has occasion to cross a 



