2() 



THE OOLOGIST. 



vmy so express it. 



The visit of my birds to tlieir home in 

 the stump lasted nearly two hours. The 

 female went into and out of the hole several 

 times before she liually settled herself, as I 

 suppose on her nest. AVhen she eame forth 

 at the end of thirty or forty niiuntes, she 

 appeared, exceedingly happy, cackling in a 

 low, harsh, but rather wheedling voice, and 

 evidently anxious to attract the attention of 

 the male, who in turn treated her with 

 lofty contempt. To him the question of a 

 new egg was not worth considering. But 

 when she at last turned away from him, 

 and mounting into the air, gidloped off into 

 the solemn gloom of the cypress wood, he 

 followed her, trumpeting at the to^D of his 

 voice. 



Day after day I retiirued to my hiding- 

 place to renew my observations, and, ex- 

 cepting a visitation of mosquitoes now and 

 then, nothing occured to mar my enjoyment. 

 As the weather grew warmer the flowers 

 and leaves came on apace, and the swamp 

 became a vast wilderness of jjerfume and 

 contrasting colors. Bird songs from^migra- 

 tiug warbler.s, vireos, tinches and other 

 happy sojourners for a day (or majhap they 

 were all nesting there, I cannot say, for "I 

 had larger fish to fry''), shook the wide si- 

 lence into sudden resonance. Along the 

 sluggish little stream between the cane- 

 brakes, the hermit-thrush and catbird were 

 met by the green heron and the belted 

 kingfisher. The snake-bird, too, that veri- 

 table water-dragon of the South, was there, 

 wriggling and .squirming in the amber-brown 

 pools amongst the lily-pads and lettuce. 



At last, one morning, mj' woodpeckers 

 discovered me in iny hidiuo'-place ; and 

 that was the end of all intimacy between us. 

 Thenceforth my observations were few and 

 at a long distance. No amount of cunning 

 could serve me any turn. Go as early as I 

 might, .and hide as securely as I could, 

 those great yellow eyes quickly espied me, 

 then there would be a rapid and long flight 

 away into the thickest and most ditficult 

 part of the swamp. 



I confess that it was with no little debate 

 that I reached the determination that it was 



my duty to rob that nest in the interest of 

 knowledge. It was thf. first opportunity I 

 ever had had to examine an occupied nest 

 of the Campephilus priricijmliH, and I felt 

 that it was scarcely proljable that I should 

 ever again be favored with such a chance. 

 With the aid of my Cracker host, I erected a 

 rucle ladder and climbed up to the hole. It 

 was almost exactly- cii-cular, and nearly five 

 inches in diameter. With a little axel be- 

 gan breaking and hacking away the crust of 

 hard outer wood. The cavity d(s ended 

 with a slightly spiral course, widening a 

 little as it proceeded. I had followed it 

 nearly five feet when I found a i^lace where 

 it was contracted again, and immediatelj' 

 below was a sudden expansion, at the bot- 

 tom of which was the nest. Five beautiful 

 pure white eggs of the finest old-china ap- 

 pearance, delicate, almost transparent, 

 exceedingly fragile and, to the eyes of a 

 collector, vastly valuable, Lay in a shallow 

 bowl of fine chips; but in breaking away 

 the last piece of wood-crust, I jerked it a 

 little too hard, and those much coveted 

 prizes rolled oiit and fell to the ground. 

 Of course they were "hopelessly crushed," 

 and my feelings with them. I would will- 

 ingly have fallen in their stead, if the risk 

 could have saved the eggs. I decended rue- 

 full}' enoiigh, hearing as I did so the loud 

 cr3' of Campephilus battling around in the 

 jungle. Once or twice more I went back to 

 the spot in early morning, but my birds did 

 not appear. I niaile minute examination of 

 the rifled nest, and also tore out the other 

 excavation, so as to compare the two. 

 They were very much alike, especially in 

 the jug-shape of their lower ends. From a 

 careful study of all the holes (apparently 

 made by Campephilus) that I have been 

 able to find and reach in either standing or 

 fallen trees, I am led to believe that this 

 jug-shape is peculiar to the ivory-biirs arch- 

 itecture, as I have never found it in the 

 excavations of other species, save where the 

 torm was evidently the result of accident. 

 The depth of the hole varies from three to 

 seven feet, as a rule, but I found one that 

 was nearly nine feet deep and another that 

 was less than two. Our smaller woadjJeck- 



