::::::::aE OASIS AND DESERT B:"""" 



startled flight, the alarm was very different from that 

 of Northern birds fleeino^ from the man with a Sfun. In 

 a few minutes, with the exception of a clear area in 

 our vicinity, all were feeding as before. 



We missed the Glossy Ibises of our first visit, but 

 before we left they arose from their roost desertwards, 

 coming in a great flock high in air. It is impossible 

 to describe the beauty of their flight. The wings 

 and general appearance of a tern, gull, or swallow 

 gives us a hint that we may expect something excep- 

 tionally fine from them when they launch themselves 

 upon the air, but these curved-billed, long-legged birds 

 suggest ability to wade and run, rather than to ma- 

 noeuvre on the wing. However, as when one sees Wood 

 Ibises soaring, the flight of a flock of Glossy Ibises 

 changes one's whole estimate of the abilities of the 

 species. 



As one bird, the flock turns and dips and swoops 

 toward the surface of the pond, rushing so close to 

 its surface that the Great Blue Herons dodge. Then 

 up they swerve again, and the sunlight is reflected at 

 exactly the same instant from every iridescent wing. 

 As they veer sharply in front of us, the full spread 

 of every individual bird's back and wings is turned 

 toward us ; then, almost between winks, the Spirit of 

 the flock has brought the profile of each ibis in sharj} 

 silhouette against the sky, — half a hundred birds 

 which seem like one with nine and forty shadows. 



4 81 -^ 



