20 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.—CLASS II. AVES. 
furnished with regular-sided angles, and in one species (Picus principalis) 
nearly of the color and consistency of ivory, whence it has been termed the 
Tvory-billed Woodpecker.” 
Mr. Yarrel, in describing the characteristics of the Woodpeckers, says, — 
* Moderate powers of flight, sufficient to transport the bird from tree to 
tree, are all that if seems to require: large pectoral muscles, with a deep 
keel to the breastbone, would, to this bird, be an inconvenience. The 
advantage of a narrow, shallow keel is immediately apparent, on looking at 
a representation of the skeleton in a climbing position ; the low keel allow- 
ing the bird to place its hody close to the tree, brings its centre of gravity 
in a perpendicular line before the points of support, and thus materially 
diminishes the labor of, and the strain upon, the muscles of the legs and 
thighs.” 
Of the Preinw, or true Woodpeckers, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is a 
good type. This species is a native of North America, being found in the 
swampy forests of the Southern and South-western States. 
“ Descending the Ohio,” says Audubon, “ we meet with this splendid bird, 
for the first time, near the confluence of that beautiful river and the Missis- 
sippi; after which, following the windings of the latter, either downwards 
towards the sea, or upwards in the direction of the Missouri, we frequently 
observe it. On the Atlantic coast, North Carolina may be taken as the 
limits of its distribution, although now and then an individual of the spe- 
cies may be accidentally seen in Maryland. To the westward of the Mis- 
sissippi, it is found in all the dense forests bordering the streams which 
empty their waters into that majestic river, from the very declivities of the 
Rocky Mountains. The lower parts of the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, 
Louisiana, and Mississippi, are, however, the most favorite resorts of this 
bird; and in those States it constantly resides, breeds, and passes a life of 
peaceful enjoyment, finding a profusion of food in all the deep, dark, and 
gloomy swamps dispersed throughout them.” 
Beetles, larve, and large grubs constitute the chief diet of this species ; 
and for these it attacks the bark and wood of decayed trees, its strokes re- 
sounding far through the gloomy wilds. “ Wherever he frequents,” says 
Wilson, “he leaves numerous monuments of his industry behind him. We 
there see enormous pine trees, with cart-loads of bark lying around their 
roots, and chips of the trunk itself in such quantities as to suggest the idea 
that half a dozen axe-men had been at work there for the whole morning. 
The body of the tree is also disfigured with such numerous and so large 
excavations that he can hardly conceive it possible for the whole to be the 
work of a Woodpecker.” 
Audubon says he has scen it detach pieces of bark seven or eight inches 
