52 NOTES ON THE 
than the time in spring of which I have written such state 
ments become true, for after a short time following their ar- 
rival, they are only seen in smaller flocks, and then only in 
pairs, after which, by the first of May, not at all, for the pairs 
have entered upon their mission of reproduction. Audubon’s 
description of their nidifications, so often quoted, tells it so ex- 
tremely well that it would be in almost bad taste’to undertake 
another.’ Hesays: ‘‘In Louisiana and Kentucky, where I have 
had better opportunities of studying their habits in this respect, 
they generally pair about the first of March, sometimes a fort- 
night earlier. I never )cnew one of these birds to form a nest 
on the ground, or on the branches of a tree. They appear at all 
times to prefer the hollow, broken portion of some large branch, 
the hole of our large Woodpecker (Picus principalis), or the de- 
serted retreat of the fox squirrel; and I have frequently been 
surprised to see them go in and out of a hole of any one of 
these, when their bodies while on the wing seemed to be nearly 
half as large again as the aperture, within which they had de 
posited their eggs. Once only I found a nest (with ten eggs) 
in the fissure of a rock on the Kentucky river, a few miles be- 
low Frankfort. Generally, however, the holes to which they 
betake themselves, are either over deep swamps, above cane- 
brakes, or on broken branches of high sycamores, seldom more 
than forty or fifty feet from the water. 
“They are much attached to their breeding places, and for 
three successive years I found a pair near Henderson, in Ken- 
tucky, with the eggs, in the beginning of April, in the 
abandoned nest of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. 
‘The eggs, which are from six to fifteen, according to the age 
of the bird are placed on dry plants, feathers, and a scanty 
portion of down, which I believe is mostly plucked from the 
breast of the female. They are perfectly smooth, nearly 
eliptical, of a light color, between buff and pale green, two in- 
ches in length by one and a half in diameter. No sooner has 
the female completed her set of eggs than she is abandoned by 
her mate, who now joins others, which form themselves into 
considerable flocks, and thus remain apart till the young are 
able to fly, when old and young of both sexes come together, 
and so remain until the commencement of the next breeding 
season. 
‘Tn all of the nests I have examined I have been rather sur- 
prised to find a quantity of feathers belonging to birds of 
other species, even those of the domestic fowls, and particu- 
