( 525 ) 



IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 



Picus PRINCIPALIS, Linn. 



PLATE LXVI. Vol.. I. p. 341. 



I HAVE only to add to what I have said of the habits and distribution 

 of this species, that I found it very abundant along the finely wooded 

 margins of that singular stream, called " Buffalo Bayou," in the Texas, 

 where we procured several specimens. 



Two of these, preserved m spirits, have afforded an opportunity of 

 making the following observations, the value of which will be estimated 

 by those interested in this branch or basis of ornithology, which the 

 ignorant would have us to believe of no value ; as if in the description 

 of a city, an account of the walls, windows, roofs and steeples, could af- 

 ford us a perfect idea of the domestic economy of its inhabitants. 



The length to end of tail is 19^ inches, to end of wings 16^, to end 

 of claws 15 ; wing from flexure 10 ; tail 9|. 



The width of the mouth is 1 inch. The bill, Fig 1, a b, p. 628, is much 

 longer than the head, straight, robust, its horny covering of extreme thick- 

 ness and solidity. It is broader than high at the base, in the proportion of 

 1 inch to 8 twelfths. The upper mandible, a, has its dorsal outline very 

 slightly arched and deflected, the ridge narrow, the lateral ridge at the 

 base equidistant from the median ridge and the margin, running parallel 

 with the former, and passing out at the margin at the distance of 10 

 twelfths from the tip ; the space between the ridges concave, the margins 

 overlapping and obtuse ; the tip wedge-shaped and truncate. The lower 

 mandible, b, has the angle of moderate length and width, the dorsal line 

 ascending and very slightly convex, the ridge narrow with a broad groove 

 on each side, beyond which the sides become erect and convex, the 

 edges very broad, for two-thirds of their length roundish, afterwards 

 flattened, the tip wedged-shaped, and abrupt. The gape-line is almost 

 straight. 



The roof of the mouth is somewhat convex : there are upon it two 

 longitudinal papillate ridges, meeting anteriorly to the palatal slit, 

 whence to the tip is a median groove, at the anterior extremity of which 

 is a small hole ; the upper mandible is but slightly concave. The 



