44 LIFE HISTOEIES OF NORTH AMEEICAN BIEDS. 



at work there, and after it locates one, the energy it displays in getting at it is 

 remarkable. It braces itself with the stiif feathers of its tail, and in striking a 

 blow uses the body from the legs up to give force to it. The blow it delivers 

 while in this position is very hard, and sounds as if some one was striking on a 

 tree with a hammer. Its food consists of grubs and insects that inhabit decayed 

 wood. In the fall and winter it feeds to some extent on the mast of the live oak, 

 and stores acorns in holes for its winter supply. I have seen them destroy the 

 nests of the gray squirrels to obtain the acorns and nuts they had put by for 

 the winter. They would sit on the top of the nest and with a few strokes of 

 their bill scatter it in every direction." 



In a recent interview with Mr. Mcllhenny he told me that he found another 

 nest of this species in the early part of May, 1894, containing five 3^oung about 

 three days old, whose eyes were still closed. The nesting site was in a dead 

 gray oak, in the main trunk, about 30 feet from the ground, and the cavity was 

 about 3 feet deep; the female was in the hole, and flew out when the tree was 

 struck; the male was not seen. 



According to Audubon, this bird feeds on gi-apes, blackberries, and persim- 

 mons. Mr. Maurice Thompson states that it eats ants, and he published a very 

 interesting article on this species imder the title of "A Red-headed Family," 

 which may be found in the "Oologist" (Vol. VI, February, 1889, pp. 22-29), 

 and is well worth reading. 



The eggs of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker are still quite rare in collections. 

 The Public Museum, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, contains a set of three, presented 

 by the late Capt. B. F. Gross, who wrote to me that they were taken in the 

 Neches River bottom, in Jasper County, Texas, on May 3, 1885. The cavity 

 was about 2 feet deep, situated 40 feet from the ground, and the entrance was 

 large enough to admit the collector's arm. The American Museum of Natural 

 History, in New York, contains a set of four eggs taken on April 10, in the 

 Alatamaha Swamp in Georgia, by the late Dr. S. W. Wilson. These measure 

 1.3G by 0.95, 1.34 by 0.98, 1.25 by 0.95, and 1.29 by 0.98 inches. The United 

 States National Museum has five of these eggs. Tavo were received from Mr. 

 N. Giles, of Wilmington, North Carolina, but no date or locality is given ; the 

 remaining three are a set from the Ralph collection, taken in Lafayette County, 

 Florida, on April 19, 1893. One of these eggs contained a large embryo; the 

 other two were addled. The nesting site was excavated in a dead bay tree, 30 

 feet from the ground, and the cavity was 2 feet deep. The female was shot 

 when the eggs were taken. 



Mr. W. E. D. Scott makes the following statement: " To-day, March 17, 

 1887, I found a nest of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and obtained both parent 

 birds and the single young bird which was the occupant of the nest. The 

 cavity was dug in a large cypress tree in the midst of a dense swamp, and was 

 41 feet from the ground. The opening was oval, being 3i inches wide and 4^ 

 inches high. The same cavity had apparently been used before for a nesting 

 place ; it was cylindrical in shape and a little inore than 14 inches deep. The 



