The Audubon Reader (20 page)

Their flesh is tolerable food when they are
young, on which account many of them are shot. The skin of their body is usually much covered with the mealy substances detached from the roots of the feathers. The head especially is infested by numerous minute insects, all of which shift from the skin to the surface of the
plumage immediately after the bird’s death. Their
nest, or the place in which they deposit their
eggs, is simply the bottom of such cavities in trees as those to which they usually retire at night. Many females deposit their eggs together. I am of opinion that the number of eggs which each individual lays is two, although I have not been able absolutely to assure myself of this. They are nearly round and of a light greenish white. The young are at first covered with soft down such as is seen on young Owls. During the first season the whole plumage is green; but towards autumn a frontlet of carmine appears. Two years, however, are passed before the male or female are in full plumage. The only material differences which the sexes present externally are that the male is rather larger with more brilliant plumage. I have represented a female with two supernumerary feathers in the tail. This, however, is merely an accidental variety.

[The Carolina Parrot,
Conuropsis carolinensis
, appears in Plate 26 of
The Birds of America
.]

I have always imagined that in the
plumage of the beautiful Ivory-billed Woodpecker there is something very closely allied to the style of coloring of the great Vandyke. The broad extent of its dark glossy body and tail, the large and well-defined white markings of its wings, neck, and bill, relieved by the rich carmine of the pendent crest of the male and the brilliant yellow of its eye have never failed to remind me of some of the boldest and noblest productions of that inimitable artist’s pencil. So strongly indeed have these thoughts become engrafted in my mind as I gradually obtained a more intimate acquaintance with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker that whenever I have observed one of these birds flying from one tree to another I have mentally exclaimed, “There goes a Vandyke!” This notion may seem strange, perhaps ludicrous to you, good reader, but I relate it as a fact, and whether or not it may be found in accordance with your own ideas, after you have inspected the plate in which is represented this great chieftain of the Woodpecker tribe, is perhaps of little consequence.

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker confines its rambles to a comparatively very small portion of the United States, it never having been observed in the middle states within the memory of any person now living there. In fact, in no portion of these districts does the nature of the woods appear suitable to its remarkable habits.

Descending the Ohio we meet with this splendid bird for the first time near the confluence of that beautiful river and the Mississippi; after which, following the windings of the latter either downwards towards the sea or upwards 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, although now and then an individual of the species may be accidentally seen in
Maryland. To the westward of the Mississippi it is found in all the dense forests bordering the streams which empty their waters into that majestic river, from the very declivities of the Rocky Mountains. The lower parts of the Carolinas,
Georgia,
Alabama,
Louisiana and Mississippi, are, however, the most favorite resorts of this bird, and in those states it constantly resides, breeds, and passes a life of peaceful enjoyment, finding a profusion of food in all the deep, dark, and gloomy swamps dispersed throughout them.

I wish, kind reader, it were in my power to present to your mind’s eye the favorite 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 which he must encounter should he persist in venturing farther into their almost inaccessible recesses extending for miles before him, where he should be interrupted by huge projecting branches, here and there the massy trunk of a fallen and decaying 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 and miry disposition, 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 of our dog days in those gloomy and horrible swamps! But the attempt to picture these scenes would be vain. Nothing short of ocular demonstration can impress any adequate idea of them.

How often, kind reader, have I thought of the difference of the tasks imposed on different minds when, traveling in countries far distant from those where birds of this species and others as difficult to be procured are now and then offered for sale in the form of
dried skins, I have heard the amateur or closet naturalist express his astonishment that half a crown was asked by the person who had perhaps followed the bird when alive over miles of such swamps, and after procuring it had prepared its skin in the best manner and carried it to a market thousands of miles distant from the spot where he had obtained it. I must say that it has at least grieved me as much as when I have heard some idle fop complain of the poverty of the gallery of the Louvre where he had paid nothing, or when I have listened to the same infatuated idler lamenting the loss of his shilling as he sauntered through the Exhibition Rooms of the
Royal Academy of London or any equally valuable repository of art. But let us return to the biography of the famed Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

The
flight of this bird is graceful in the extreme although seldom prolonged to more than a few hundred yards at a time, unless when it has to cross a large river, which it does in deep undulations, opening its wings at first to their full extent and nearly closing them to renew the propelling impulse. The transit from one tree to another, even should the distance be as much as a hundred yards, is performed by a single sweep, and the bird appears as if merely swinging itself from the top of the one tree to that of the other, forming an elegantly curved line. At this moment all the beauty of the plumage is exhibited and strikes the beholder with pleasure. It never utters any sound whilst on wing unless during the love season; but at all other times, no sooner has this bird alighted than its remarkable
voice is heard at almost every leap which it makes, whilst ascending against the upper parts of the trunk of a tree or its highest branches. Its notes are clear, loud and yet rather plaintive. They are heard at a considerable distance, perhaps half a mile, and resemble the false high note of a clarinet. They are usually repeated three times in succession and may be represented by the monosyllable
pait, pait, pait
. These are heard so frequently as to induce me to say that the bird spends few minutes of the day without uttering them, and this circumstance leads to its destruction, which is aimed at not because (as is supposed by some) this species is a destroyer of trees but more because it is a beautiful bird, and its rich scalp attached to the upper mandible forms an ornament for the war dress of most of our
Indians or for the shot-pouch of our
squatters and hunters, by all of whom the bird is shot merely for that purpose.

Travelers of all nations are also fond of possessing the upper part of the head and the bill of the male, and I have frequently remarked, that on a steamboat’s reaching what we call a
wooding place
, the
strangers
were very apt to pay a quarter of a dollar for two or three heads of this Woodpecker. I have seen entire belts of
Indian chiefs closely ornamented with the tufts and bills of this species, and have observed that a great value is frequently put upon them.

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker nestles earlier in spring than any other species of its tribe. I have observed it boring a hole for that purpose in the beginning of March. The hole is, I believe, always made in the trunk of a live tree, generally an ash or a hackberry, and is at a great height. The birds pay great regard to the particular situation of the tree and the inclination of its trunk; first, because they prefer retirement, and again, because they are anxious to secure the aperture against the access of water during beating rains. To prevent such a calamity the hole is generally dug immediately under the junction of a large branch with the trunk. It is first bored horizontally for a few inches, then directly downwards, and not in a spiral manner as some people have imagined. According to circumstances this cavity is more or less deep, being sometimes not more than ten inches, whilst at other times it reaches nearly three feet downwards into the core of the tree. I have been led to think that these differences result from the more or less immediate necessity under which the female may be of depositing her eggs, and again have thought that the older the Woodpecker is, the deeper does it make its hole. The average diameter of the different
nests which I have examined was about seven inches within, although the entrance, which is perfectly round, is only just large enough to admit the bird.

Both birds work most assiduously at this excavation, one waiting outside to encourage the other whilst it is engaged in digging, and when the latter is fatigued, taking its place. I have approached trees whilst these Woodpeckers were thus busily employed in forming their nest, and by resting my head against the bark, could easily distinguish every blow given by the bird. I observed that in two instances, when the Woodpeckers saw me thus at the foot of the
tree in which they were digging their nest, they abandoned it forever. For the first brood there are generally six eggs. They are deposited on a few chips at the bottom of the hole and are of a pure white color. The
young are seen creeping out of the hole about a fortnight before they venture to fly to any other tree. The second brood makes its appearance about the 15th of August.

In
Kentucky and
Indiana the Ivory-bills seldom raise more than one brood in the season. The young are at first of the color of the female only that they want the crest, which, however, grows rapidly, and towards autumn, particularly in birds of the first breed, is nearly equal to that of the mother. The males have then a slight line of red on the head and do not attain their richness of
plumage until spring or their full size until the second year. Indeed, even then a difference is easily observed between them and individuals which are much older.

The
food of this species consists principally of beetles, larvae and large grubs. No sooner, however, are the grapes of our forests ripe than they are eaten by the Ivory-billed Woodpecker with great avidity. I have seen this bird hang by its claws to the vines in the position so often assumed by a
Titmouse and, reaching downwards, help itself to a bunch of grapes with much apparent pleasure. Persimmons are also sought for by them as soon as the fruit becomes quite mellow, as are hackberries.

The Ivory-bill is never seen attacking the corn or the fruit of the orchards, although it is sometimes observed working upon and chipping off the bark from the belted trees of the newly cleared plantations. It seldom comes near the ground but prefers at all times the tops of the tallest trees. Should it, however, discover the half-standing broken shaft of a large dead and rotten tree, it attacks it in such a manner as nearly to demolish it in the course of a few days. I have seen the remains of some of these ancient monarchs of our forests so excavated and that so singularly that the tottering fragments of the trunk appeared to be merely supported by the great pile of chips by which its base was surrounded. The strength of this Woodpecker is such that I have seen it detach pieces of bark seven or eight inches in length at a single blow of its powerful bill, and by beginning at the top branch of a dead tree, tear off the bark to an extent of twenty or thirty feet in the course of a few
hours, leaping downwards with its body in an upward position, tossing its head to the right and left or leaning it against the bark to ascertain the precise spot where the grubs were concealed and immediately after renewing its blows with fresh vigor, all the while sounding its loud notes as if highly delighted.

This species generally moves in pairs after the young have left their parents. The female is always the most clamorous and the least shy. Their mutual attachment is, I believe, continued through life. Excepting when digging a hole for the reception of their eggs, these birds seldom if ever attack living trees for any other purpose than that of procuring food, in doing which they destroy the insects that would otherwise prove injurious to the trees.

I have frequently observed the male and female retire to rest for the night, into the same hole in which they had long before reared their young. This generally happens a short time after sunset.

When wounded and brought to the ground, the Ivory-bill immediately makes for the nearest tree and ascends it with great rapidity and perseverance until it reaches the top branches, when it squats and hides, generally with great effect. Whilst ascending it moves spirally round the tree, utters its loud
pait, pait, pait
at almost every hop but becomes silent the moment it reaches a place where it conceives itself secure. They sometimes cling to the bark with their claws so firmly as to remain cramped to the spot for several hours after death. When taken by the hand, which is rather a hazardous undertaking, they strike with great violence and inflict very severe wounds with their bill as well as claws, which are extremely sharp and strong. On such occasions, this bird utters a mournful and very piteous cry.