IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 
565 
the warmer regions, breeding in the rainy season, and the 
pair are believed to be united for life. More vagrant, 
retiring, and independent than the rest of his family, 
he is never found in the precincts of cultivated tracts ; the 
scene of his dominion is the lonely forest amidst trees of 
the greatest magnitude. His reiterated trumpeting note, 
somewhat similar to the high tones of the clarionet ( pait 
pait pait pait), is heard, soon after day, and until a late 
morning hour, echoing loudly from the recesses of the dark 
cypress swamps, where he dwells in domestic security, 
without showing any impertinent or necessary desire to 
quit his native solitary abodes. Upon the giant trunk and 
moss-grown arms of this colossus of the forest, and amidst 
almost inaccessible and ruinous piles of mouldering 
logs, the high rattling clarion and rapid strokes of this 
princely Woodpecker are often the only sounds which 
vibrate through, and communicate an air of life to these 
dismal wilds. His stridulous, interrupted call, and loud, 
industrious blows, may often be heard for more than 
half a mile, and become audible, at various distances, as 
the elevated mechanic raises or depresses his voice, or as 
he flags or exerts himself in his laborious employment. 
His retiring habits, loud notes, and singular occupation, 
amidst scenes so savage yet majestic, afford withal a 
peculiar scene of solemn grandeur, on which the mind 
dwells for a moment with sublime contemplation, con- 
vinced that there is no scene in nature devoid of harmo- 
nious consistence. Nor is the performance of this indus- 
trious hermit less remarkable than the peals of his sono- 
rous voice, or the loud choppings of his powerful bill. He 
is soon surrounded with striking monuments of his in- 
dustry ; like a real carpenter (a nick-name given him by 
the Spaniards), he is seen surrounded with cart-loads of 
chips, and broad flakes of bark, which rapidly accumu- 
48 
