8 IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 



name of song. It remains with us all summer ; but its nest 

 has hitherto escaped me. It leaves us late in September. 

 Some of them probably winter in Georgia, having myself shot 

 several late in February, on the borders of the Savannah 

 river. 



Length of the yellow red-poll, five inches ; extent, eight ; 

 line over the eye, and whole lower parts, rich yellow ; breast, 

 streaked with dull red ; upper part of the head, reddish chest- 

 nut, which it loses in winter; back, yellow olive, streaked 

 with dusky ; rump, and tail-coverts, greenish yellow ; wings, 

 deep blackish brown, exteriorly edged with olive ; tail, slightly 

 forked, and of the same colour as the wings. 



The female wants the red cap ; and the yellow of the lower 

 parts is less brilliant ; the streaks of red on the breast are 

 also fewer and less distinct. 



IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. (Picus principalis) 



PLATE XXIX— Fig. 1. 



Ticus principalis, Linn. Syst. i. p. 173. 2. — Gmel. Syst. i. p. 425. — Picus Niger 

 Carolinensis, Briss. iv. p. 26. 9 ; Id. 8vo. ii. p. 49. — Fie noir a bee blanc, Buff. 

 vii. p. 46. PL enl. 690.— KiDg of the Woodpeckers, Ealm, ii. p. 85. — White- 

 billed Woodpecker, Catesb. Car. i. 6. 16. — Arct. Zool. ii. No. 156. — Lath. Syn. 

 ii. p. 553. — Bartram, p. 2S9. — Peak's Museum, No. 1884. 



PICUS PRINCIPALIS.— Linnjeus.* 



Picus principalis, i?onaj9. Synop. p. 44. — Wagl. Syst. Ar. Picus, No. 1. — The Ivory- 

 billed Woodpecker, Aud. pi. 66, male and female ; Orn. Biog. i. p. 341. 



This majestic and formidable species, in strength and mag- 

 nitude, stands at the head of the whole class of woodpeckers, 

 hitherto discovered. He may be called the king or chief of 



* The genus Picus, or woodpeckers, with the exception of the parrots, 

 forms the most extensive group among the Scansores, and perhaps one 

 of the most natural among the numerous divisions now assigned to the 

 feathered race. In a former note we mentioned the difference of form, 

 and corresponding modification of habit, that nevertheless existed among 

 them. Most ornithologists have divided them into three groups only, 

 taking the common form of woodpeckers for the type, making another 



