THE IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 43 



what the people call 'burn-outs.' These are large tracts of heavy timber which 

 the forest fires have destroyed; and the dead trees harbor beetles, etc. A nest 

 which I examined was dug in a live cypress about 50 feet high."-^ 



Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny has kindly furnished me with the following notes on 

 this interesting species: "In the cypress swamps adjacent to Avery's Island, 

 Louisiana, these noble birds are still quite common, and here, in their favorite 

 haimts, I have watched them for years. I believe they remain mated for life, 

 for I have observed several pairs of them year in and year out, and can always 

 find them near the spot where they have their nest or winter home, froin 

 which place they are hard to drive away, thereby showing a fondness for 

 locality seldom seen in birds of this family. The nest is generally placed 

 in a cypress or tupelo gum tree, one that is partly dead being preferred, 

 and the cavity is excavated in the dead part of the tree. I have never 

 found a nest in wood in which there was sap, or in rotten wood. The site 

 for the nest being chosen, the female begins the excavation during the last week 

 in March or the beginning of Ajjril, and from eight to fourteen days are spent 

 in finishing it, the female doing- all the work, while the male sits around and 

 chips the bark from the neighboring trees. The eggs are deposited as early as 

 April 9, on which date I took a set of three fresh eggs in 1892, and on May 19 

 I took from the same pair, in the same ti'ee, but in a lower excavation, a set of 

 four eggs in which incubation was considerably advanced. But one brood is 

 reared in a season, and the young remain with the parents until the mating 

 season in the following year. 



"A typical nest of this bird is one I found on May 2, 1892. It was 

 situated in a partly dead cjqjress, 41 feet up. The entrance was oval and 

 measures 4^ by 5f inches. The excavation was 21^ inches deep, and was 

 much larger at the bottom than at the top. It contained three eg'gs, deposited 

 on about an inch of fine chips. The eggs measured 1.40 by 1.01, 1.38 by 1.02, 

 and 1.37 by 1.02 inches; they are very glossy and quite pointed. When the 

 young are hatched, both parents feed them, often going cpite a distance into the 

 open country in search of food. As soon as they leave the woods they mount 

 to a considerable height, their flight being very strong, and, like that of all 

 Woodpeckers, undulating. The ordy note I have heard these birds give is 

 made while on the wing; it is very shrill, and resembles somewhat the call of 

 the Pileated Woodpecker, but is quite beyond being put on paper; the call of 

 the female does not perceptibly differ from that of the male. They are very silent 

 birds at all times, and during the breeding season I have never heard their cry. 

 They have, however, another mode of calling each other: one bird will alight on 

 a diy limb of some tree and rap on it with its bill so fast and loud that it 

 sounds like the roll of a snare drum; this it continues to do at short intervals 

 until its mate comes. When in search of food this bird evinces great cleverness. 

 It will alight on a dead limb, and after tapping it a few times with its beak it 

 puts its ear to the wood and listens for the movements of any grub that may be 



'The Auk, Vol. X, 1893, p. 338. 



