IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 345 



tliey are eaten by the Ivory-billed Woodpecker with great avidity. I 

 have seen this bird hang by its claws to the vines, in the position so of- 

 ten assumed by a Titmouse, and, reaching downwards, help itself to a 

 bunch of grapes with much apparent pleasure. Persimons are also 

 sought for by them, as soon as the fruit becomes quite mellow, as are 

 hagberries. 



The Ivory-bill is never seen attacking the corn, or the fruit of the 

 orchards, although it is sometimes observed working upon and chipping 

 off the bark from the belted trees of the newly-cleared plantations. It sel- 

 dom comes near the ground, but prefers at aU times the tops of the tall- 

 est trees. Should it, however, discover the half-standing broken shaft of 

 a large dead and rotten tree, it attacks it in such a manner as nearly to 

 demoUsh it in the course of a few days. I have seen the remains of some 

 of these ancient monarehs of our forests so excavated, and that so singu- 

 larly, that the tottering fragments of the trunk appeared to be merely 

 supported by the great pile of chips by which its base was surrounded. 

 The strength of this Woodpecker is such, that I have seen it detacli 

 pieces of bark seven or eight inches in length at a single blow of its pow- 

 erful bill, and by beginning at the top branch of a dead tree, tear off the 

 bark, to an extent of twenty or thirty feet, in the course of a few hours, 

 leaping downwards with its body in an upward position, tossing its head 

 to the right and left, or leaning it against the bark to ascertain the pre- 

 cise spot where the grubs were concealed, and immediately after renew- 

 ing its blows with fresh vigour, all the while sounding its loud notes, as 



if highly delighted. ^^ .. - 



° -' ° „_ ^'^""g "^^^ ^^l^ then- 



This species o-pnoT-^u,. " ' , i ^i i * i, 



parents. The female is always the most clamorous and the least shy. 

 Their mutual attachment is, I believe, continued through life. Except- 

 ing when digging a hole for the reception of their eggs, these birds sel- 

 dom, if ever, attack living trees, for any other purpose than that of pro- 

 curing food, in doing which they destroy the insects that would other- 

 wise prove injurious to the trees. 



I have frequently observed the male and female retire to rest for the 

 night, into the same hole in which they had long before reared their 

 young. This generally happens a short time after sunset. 



When wounded and brought to the ground, the Ivory-bill immediately 

 makes for the nearest tree, and ascends it with great rapidity and perse- 



