136 
PICUS PRINCIPALIS. 
seen a coat made of the skins, heads, and claws of the 
raven; caps stuck round with heads of butcher-birds, 
hawks, and eagles ; and as the disposition and courage 
of the ivory-hilled woodpecker are well known to the 
savages, no wonder they should attach great value to 
it, having both beauty, and, in their estimation, distin- 
guished merit to recommend it. 
This bird is not migratory, hut resident in the coun- 
tries where it inhabits. In the low countries of the 
Carolinas it usually prefers the large timbered cypress 
swamps for breeding in. In the trunk of one of these 
trees, at a considerable height, the male and female 
alternately, and in conjunction, dig out a large and 
capacious cavity for their eggs and young. Trees thus 
dug out have frequently been cut down, with sometimes 
the eggs and young in them. This hole, according to 
information, — for I have never seen one myself, — is 
generally a little winding, the better to keep out the 
weather, and from tw r o to five feet deep. The eggs are 
said to he generally four, sometimes five, as large as a 
pullet’s, pure white, and equally thick at both ends, — 
a description that, except in size, very nearly agrees 
with all the rest of our woodpeckers. The young begin 
to be seen abroad about the middle of June. Whether 
they breed more than once in the same season is 
uncertain. 
So little attention do the people of the countries 
where these birds inhabit, pay to the minutiae of natural 
history, that, generally speaking, they make no distinc- 
tion between the ivory-billed and pileated woodpecker ; 
and it was not till I shewed them the two birds together, 
that they knew of any difference. The more intelligent 
and observing part of the natives, however, distinguish 
them by the name of the large and lesser logcocks. 
They seldom examine them but at a distance, gunpowder 
being considered too precious to be thrown aw^ay on 
woodpeckers ; nothing less than a turkey being thought 
worth the value of a load. 
The food of this bird consists, I believe, entirely of 
