136 
PICUS PRINCIPALIS. 
seen a coat made of the skins, heads, and claws of tl'® 
raven ; caps stuck round with heads of butcher-bird*' 
Lawks, aad eag-les ; and as the disposition and 
ot the ivoiy-hillcd woodpecker are well known to th*^ 
savagres, no wonder they should attach grreat value to 
it, having both beauty, and, in their estimation, distil"' 
guishcd merit to recommend it. 
This bird is not migratory, hut resident in the conn* 
tries where it inhabits. In the low countries of 
Carolinas it usually prefers the large timbered cypre** 
swamps for breeding in. In the trunk of one of the*« 
trees, at a considerable height, the male and feniid** 
alternately, and in conjunction, dig out a lam-e »D‘* 
capacious cavity for their eggs and young. Trees tbu* 
dug out have frcipieiitly heen cut down, with sometim** 
tiie eggs ami young in them. This hole, according 
information, — for I have never seen one myself, ^ 
generally a little winding, the better to keep out tli« 
weather, and from tuo to five feet deep. The eo-o-s are 
said to he generally four, sometimes five, as lare'e as a 
pullet’s, pure white, and ef|unlly thick at both ends,-' 
a description that, except in si/e, very nearly aoree* 
with .all the rest ot our wooilpecUcrs. the young begii* 
"‘i'l'llc of .Tune. Whethe"' 
more than once in the 
same season 
they breed 
uncertain. 
So little iittention do the peo,)le of the countries 
where these birds inhahit, pay to the miuutiai of natural 
history, that, generally speaking, they make no distinc- 
tion hetiveen the ivory-hilled and pileated woodpecker! 
and it was not till I shewed them the two birds to<rethcr, 
that they knew of any difference. The more inte1ii"'eol 
and ohseiwing jiart of the natives, however, distiimuisl' 
ttem by the name of the large and lesser lot/codf- 
I hey seldom e.\-auiiue them but at a distance, gunpowder 
being considered too jirecious to be thrown away on 
woodpeckers; nothing less than a tiukey being thougW 
worth the value of a load. j s 
The food ot this bird consists, I believe, entirely of 
