346 IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 



verance, until it reaches the top branches, when it squats and hides, 

 generally with great effect. Whilst ascending, it moves spirally round 

 the tree, utters its loud pait, pait, pait, at almost every hop, but becomes 

 silent the moment it reaches a place where it conceives itself secure. 

 They sometimes cUng to the bark with their claws so firmly, as to re- 

 main cramped to the spot for several hours after death. When taken by 

 the hand, which is rather a hazardous undertaking, they strike with 

 great violence, and inflict very severe wounds with their bill as well as 

 claws, which are extremely sharp and strong. On such occasions, this • 

 bird utters a mournful and very piteous cry. 



Picus PRINCIPALIS, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 173 — Lath. Ind. Omith. vol. i. p. 225. 



— Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 44. 

 White-billed Woodpeckeh, Lath. Synops. vol. ii. p. 553. 

 IvoRT-BiLLED WooDPECKEH, PictTs PRINCIPALIS, Wils. Amer. Oniith. vol. iv. 



PI. 29, Fig. i. 



Adult Male. Plate LXVI. Fig. 1. 



Bill long, straight, strong, polyhedral, tapering, compressed and 

 truncated at the tip ; mandibles nearly equal, both nearly straight in 

 their dorsal outline. Nostrils basal, oval, partly covered by recumbent 

 bristly feathers. Head large. Neck long and slender. Body robust. 

 Feet rather short, robust ; tarsus strong, scute! late before, scaly on the 

 sides ; two toes before and two behind, the inner hind toe shortest ; 



Plumage co4^^t,lfo^ssr*^i..„ .^^ __ ^^ 



tile. Wings large, the third and fourth quills longest. M long ^Zt 

 duated, of twelve tapering stifF feathers worn to a point by being rubbed 

 against the bark of trees. 



Bill of an ivory-white, whence the common name of the bird Iris 

 bnght yeUow. Feet greyish blue. The general colour of the plumage 

 IS black, with violet reflections, more glossy above. The feathers of the 

 middle and hind part of the head are of a vivid deep carmine. A broad 

 band of white runs down the neck and back, on either side, commencing 

 narrow under the ear, and terminating with the scapulars. The five 

 outer primaries bla^k, the rest white towards the end, the secondaries 

 wholly white, so that when the wings ai-e closed, the posterior pait of 



