044 NESTS AND EGGS OF M'STRALIAN BIRDS. 



inches deep. Tlie bulk of the nests had no hning, but a few were 

 lined with the yellow flowers from an annual giowing on the plains. 

 About thirty nests were frequently seen on one clump of bushes, while 

 smaller clumps supported perhaps from three to a dozen nests, there- 

 fore the whole rookery appeared to be composed of detached companies 

 of from three to thirty brooding pairs. 



Many of the birds started nesting on tlie 8th September. As 

 the)' arrived in variously sized companies, so they seemed to choose a 

 suitable bush, and, having prepared it and built their nests, commenced 

 laying about the same time. 



This swamp had not been used as a breeding place by the Ibis 

 since 1894 (the last good wet season); but in 1896 it was pai-tially 

 filled with water, when a large niunber of these birds appeared for the 

 purpose of nesting. However in about a fortnight after the eggs 

 were laid, the water dried off and caused the birds to suddenly desert 

 their nests and leave the district altogether. " It is an ill wind that 

 blows nobody any good." The Ravens then took possession, and 

 witliin two days every egg on the rookery was devoured. 



September to December constitute the chief breeding months. 

 In 1892 these Ibises were numerous in many of the southern parts 

 of Victoria, notably Wenibee, Oakleigh, Western Port, &c. Tliey 

 appeared again in 1897. Both seasons were exceedingly dry in the 

 interior. Dming the fonner year, from Point Cloates, West Austraha, 

 Mr. Tom Carter wrote : " Immense flocks of Straw-necked Ibis appeared 

 here last March (1892), when the drought broke up. Tliey are now 

 going away. Tliey appear to feed almost entirely on grasshoppers. 

 It was a fine sight to see gi'oat flocks of the birds coming in from all 

 sides at sundown to sleep on the bare drift sandliills just behind my 

 house, and again at early dawn to see them going away in mobs to feed." 



700. — Plegadis falcineli.us, Linnreus. — (540) 

 GLOSSY IBIS. 



Figure. — Gould ; Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vi., pi. 47. 



Reference. — Cat. Hirds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvi., p. 29. 



Previous Dacriptions of Eggs. — Legge : Birds of Ceylon, p. 11 1 

 (1880); Campbell: Southern Science Record (1883); North: 

 Austn. Mus. Cat., app. (1890) ; Hume — Gates : Ne.'^ts and Eggs 

 Indian Birds, vol. iii., p. 231 (iSgo). 



Geographical Distribution . — Australia in general and Tasmania, also 

 Now Guinea, and through the Austro-Malayan Archipelago to Asia 

 and Europe; Africa; a portion of Eastern North America. 



Nest. — Constructed of medium-sized sticks or bunches of leaves, piled 

 up about a foot high in the forked branches of a tree growing in or 

 near water. The nests arc in small companies or in a rookery, some- 

 times associated with those of Spoonbills, Connorants, &c. 



