IlilDlD.E. 



All three species of Ibis inhahilinf,' Australia play an important part in nature's economy, 

 for they consume innumerable quantities of harmful insects and new larva?, but it depends 

 entirely on their environment, for a species that may be extremely useful in destroying insect 

 pests in one part of the continent, may not prove to be of any service in another, but at least 

 none of them will prove detrimental to the interests of one engaged in any rural pursuit. They 

 are all rigorously protected in New South Wales. 



'J'he White Ibis cliielly frequents swampy localities, overgrown with long grass, or rushes, 

 preferring those situations which partially conceal it while engaged in its search for various 

 insects, small reptiles, frogs, etc. It is fairly numerous in some seasons on the Namoi and 

 Gundagai Rivers, Xorth-western New South \\'ales, where in the latter district I met with it on 

 the biroadwater and watercourse country. Altliuii-h not nearly so plentiful as the Sttaw-necked 

 Ibis, with which in some parts of New South Wales it shares the name of " Dry-weather Bird," 

 it frequently assembles in large colonies with this species for the purpose of breeding. Like 

 that species, too, it is uiidoulitedly nomadic in habits, wandering about and visiting more favoured 

 districts during periods of drought, and then being absent from them probably for many years. 

 I'"rom Dr. W. Macgillivray's note it will be seen that a flock of this species visited Broken Hill, 

 in South-western New South Wales, at the latter end of December, igog, during excessive heat, 

 many of the exhausted birds falling on the roofs of houses in the town, and others being captured 

 in the streets. Both this and the succeeding species are equally entitled to the name of" Flood- 

 bird," for frequently their visitation to a district is followed byabnoimal inundations, as with 

 the great llood of |anuary, njio, in North-western New South Wales, and their appearance at 

 Ihokeii llill at the same time, m the south-western portion of the State, being signalised shortly 

 after by the break up of an impending water famine. I ha\ e never seen it in the neighbourhood 

 of Sydney. 



I'"io,n notes made by the late Mr. K. II. Bennett, while resident at Yandembah Station, in 

 the Lachlan District, New South Wales, 1 have extracted the following :— " (Jn the 30th 

 November, 1S90, I started with the intention of visiting the breeding place oi Gciviiticiis spiiiicollis, 

 to reach which I had to ride through nearly three miles of Hooded country, where the depth of 

 water varied from a few inches to si.x feet. Some time before reaching my destination I could 

 see thousands of G. spinicollis flying about and over the breeding-place, but what chiefly attracted 

 my attention were the white objects appearing, as if the large clumps of Polygoiuiiii bushes 

 were crowned with snow. As I approached I could see they were colonies of the White 

 Ibis (Tliirskiorm's styictipcmiis), and when at last I reached the spot, I found it was a breeding- 

 place, but to my disappointment the nests only contained young ones in various stages, from 

 just hatched to partly fledged. .\s 1 rode up to the bushes on which the nests were placed, the 

 old birds of course flew off, and such of the young ones as were strong enough to do so scrambled 

 out of the nests and attempted to conceal themselves in the dense tangled mass of Polyti^onum 

 stems on which the nests were placed, but in doing so it was evident that numbers would perish, 

 for I could see them suspended by the neck, wings or legs in all directions in their clumsy 

 efforts to hide themselves. On a further search of the Polygnnuiii scrub, which was of immense 

 extent, 1 had the good luck to discover several other colonies, many of the nests containing 

 eggs, though young birds were far more numerous. The various nests I examined contained 

 from one to three eggs, but strange to say they were all in an advanced stage of incubation, no 

 matter wliat the number was. I succeeded, however, in obtaining nine eggs, three from one 

 nest, and two each from three others. In no instance did I observe more than three eggs or 

 three young birds in any nest. The nests are similar in construction and material to those of 

 Gcvontkiis spiiiiiullis, being nearly flat structures composed of long spiny sticks and twigs inter- 

 laced through one another, measuring about eighteen inches in diameter by six in length; the 

 colonies, however, were smaller and more separated, containing from ten to fifteen nests, whilst 



