30 CASSELL'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



marked with white. The feathers on the head form a crest, which in the male is of considerable size, 

 and of a red colour. 



Two species of Giant Woodpeckers are worthy of special notice, named respectively the 

 Imperial and tlie Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. 



THE IMPERIAL WOODPECKER. 

 The Imperial Woodpecker {CamJ>cJ>hilits imperialis) is almost entirely black. A stripe on the 

 shoulders, the tip of the hinder quill, and the lower wing-covers are white, the latter spotted with 

 black on the exterior edge ; the crest of the male is scarlet, and that of the female black. This 

 species is above twenty-five inches long ; the wing measures twelve and the tail nine inches. 



THE IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 



The IvoRV-BiLLED Woodpecker {Campephihts prmcipalis) is also black ; and the centre as well 

 as the hinder quills are white ; the lower mng-covers are striped with black ; and the white lines on 

 the shoulder extend to the sides of the head. The eye is bright yellow, the beak as white as ivory, 

 and the foot greyish blue. This bird is twenty-one inches long, and thirty broad ; the wing measures 

 ten inches and a half, and the tail seven inches and a quarter. 



The Imperial Woodpecker inhabits the mountain tracts of California, as far as the boundaries of 

 Mexico, whilst the Ivory-beak frequents the forests that extend along the Mississippi to the Ohio. 

 We are but little acquainted with the habits of the first-mentioned bird, but are indebted to Audubon 

 for a most graphic description of the life and habits of the Ivory-beak. 



" The Ivory-billed Woodpecker," says that ^vriter, " confines its rambles to a comparatively small 

 portion of the United States. Descending to the Ohio, we met with this splendid bird for the first time 

 near the confluence of that river and the Mississippi ; after which, following the windings of the latter, 

 either towards the sea or in the direction of the Missouri, we frequently observe it. On the Atlantic 

 coast. North Carolina may be taken as the limit of its distribution, thoiigh individuals are occasionally 

 seen in Maryland. To the west of the Mississippi it is found in all the dense forests bordering the 

 streams which empty their waters into that majestic liver, from the very declivities of the Rocky 

 Mountains. The lower part of the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi are, 

 however, the favourite resorts of this bird ; and in these States it constantly resides, breeds, and passes 

 a life of peaceful enjojonent, finding a profusion of food in all the deep, dark, and gloomy swamps 

 dispersed over them. I wish, kind reader, that it were in my power to present to your mind's eye 

 the favourite resort of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Would that I could describe the extent of 

 those deep morasses, overshadowed by millions of gigantic dark cypresses, spreading their sturdy 

 moss-covered branches as if to admonish intruding man to pause and reflect on the many difficulties 

 he must encounter should he persist in venturing farther into their almost inaccessible recesses, 

 extending for miles before him, where he would be interrupted by huge projecting branches, here and 

 there the massive trunk of a fallen and decayed tree, and thousands of creeping and twining plants of 

 numberless species ! Would that I could represent to you the dangerous nature of the ground, its 

 oozing, spongy, miry condition, although covered with a beautiful, but treacherous carpeting, 

 composed of the richest mosses, flags, and water-lilies, no sooner receiving the pressure of the foot 

 than it yields, and endangers the very life of the adventurer ; whilst here and there, as he approaches 

 an opening that proves merely a lake of black, muddy water, his ear is assailed by the dismal 

 croaking of innumerable frogs, the hissing of serpents, or the bellowing of alligators ! Would that 

 I could give you an idea of the sultry, pestiferous atmosphere, that nearly suffocates the intruder 

 during the meridian heat, in those gloomy and horrible swamps ! 



