860 BULLETIN OF TBE 



TANTALID^J. 



146* Tantalus loculator /''"" , ' "Wood Ibis. "Gannet." 



Common on the Upper St. John's. In March they were undergoing 

 their spring moult, and were consequently in poor plumage. According 

 to Dr. Bryant, who is the first and only writer, so far as I am aware, 

 who has minutely described their eggs and breeding habits, incubation 

 is generally commenced by the 1st of April. Dr. Bryant visited two of 

 their breeding places, one of which was between New Smyrna and 

 Enterprise, in a large cypress swamp on the southern border of Lake 

 Ashby. He estimated that a thousand pairs were breeding there. 



There is a singular discrepancy in the accounts of authors in respect 

 to the habits of this bird. Bartram mentions it as solitary in its 

 habits, not associating in flocks. Audubon, always finding it in large 

 flocks, calls attention to this remark of Mr. Bartram as being wholly 

 erroneous, and regrets that his account had been so extensively copied 

 by authors. Dr. Bryant fully corroborates Bartram's account, and 

 censures Audubon for not remembering that birds vary in their habits 

 at different times and places. He says he never saw it in flocks except 

 at its breeding places, and that they usually went off and returned 

 either singly or in pairs. I saw wood ibises more or less frequently on 

 the Upper St. John's for four or five weeks, and only in two or three 

 Instances singly or in pairs. I almost invariably saw them in flocks, 

 both at their feeding grounds and flying in the air, they varying in 

 number from a dozen to a hundred. While more or less gregarious at 

 all times, they often doubtless also separate into pairs or wander singly. 



In East Florida the wood ibises are called " gannets." Under this 

 name they were described to Audubon when he visited that country, 

 and concerning which he remarks : " On asking the appearance of the 

 Gannets, I was told they were large white birds, with wings black at 

 the end, a long neck, and a large sharp bill. The description so far 

 agreeing with that of the common gannet or solan goose, I proposed no 

 questions respecting the legs or tail, but went off." On visiting the 

 locality where they were said to occur, he was surprised to find the 

 trees covered with wood ibises. He hence adds : " Now as the good 

 people who gave the information spoke according to their knowledge, 

 and agreeably to their custom of calling the ibises gannets, had I not 

 gone to the pond, I might have written this day that gannets are found 



