IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 343 



ling, as he sauntered through the Exhibition Rooms of the Royal Aca- 

 demy of London, or any equally valuable repository of art. But, let us 

 return to the biography of the famed Ivory-billed Woodpecker. 

 The flight <rf-thi&^biTd/is graceful in the extreme, although seldom pro-"^, 

 longed to more than ai^w hundred yards at a time, unless when it has to 

 cross a large river, which it does in deep undulations, opening its wings at 

 first to their full extent, and nearly closing them to renew the propelling 

 impulse. The transit from one tree to another, even should the distance 

 be as much as a hundred yards, is performed by a single sweep, and the 

 bird appears as if merely swinging itself from the top of the one tree to 

 that of the other, forming an elegantly curved line. At this moment all 

 the beauty of the plumage is exhibited, and strikes the beholder with 

 pleasure. It never utters any sound whilst on wing, unless during the 

 love season ; but at all other times, no sooner has this bird ahghted than 

 its remarkable voice is heard, at almost every leap which it makes, whilst 

 ascending against the upper parts of the trunk of a tree, or its highest 

 branches. Its notes are clear, loud, and yet rather plaintive. They are 

 heard at a considerable distance, perhaps half a mile, and resemble the 

 false high note of a clarionet. They are usually repeated three times in 

 succession, and may be represented by the monosyllable pait, pait, pait 

 These are heard so frequently as to induce me to say that the bird spends 

 few minutes of the day without uttering them, and this circumstance leads 

 to its destruction, which is aimed at, not because (as is supposed by some) 

 this species is a destroyer of trees, but more because it is a beautiful bird, 

 and its rich scalp attached to the upper mandible fojny^jgji 8f 'bur "squat- 



ters and hunters, by all of whom the bird is shot merely for that purpose. 

 Travellers of aU nations are also fond of possessing the upper part of 

 the head and the biU of the male, and I have frequently remarked, that 

 on a steaxn-boat^s reaching what we call a wooding-place, the strangers were 

 very apt to pay a quarter of a doUar for two or three heads of this 

 Woodpecker. I have seen entire belts of Indian chiefs closely ornament- 

 ed with the tufts and biUs of this species, and have observed that a great 

 value is frequently put upon them. , 



The Ivory-biUed Woodpecker nestles earlier in spring than any other .J^_ 

 species of its tribe. I have observed it boring a hole for that purpose m ^ ■ ' 

 the beginning of March. The hole is, I believe, always made m the ' 

 trunk of a Uve tree, generally an ash or a hagberry, and is at a great 



