514 TANTALUS LOCULATOR, WOOD IBIS. 



the first of April. Dr. Bryant visited two of their breeding' places, one 

 of Avliicli was between New Smyrna and Enterprise, in a large cypress 

 swamp on the border of Lake Asbby. He estimated that a thousand 

 pairs were breeding there. Tliere is a singular discrepancy in the 

 accounts of authors in respec\ to the habits of this bird. Bartram 

 mentions it as solitary in its habits, not associating in flocks. Audu- 

 bon, always tlnding it in large Hocks, calls attention to this remark of 

 Bartram's as being wholly erroneous. Dr. Bryant fully corroborates 

 Bartram's account, and censures Audubon for not remembering that 

 birds vary in their habits at difi'erent times and i)laces. He says he 

 never saw it in flocks except at its breeding places, and that they 

 usually went oft" and returned either singly or in pairs. I almost invari- 

 ably 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 

 mor.e or less gregarious at all times, they often doubtless also separate 

 into pairs, or wander siijgly." My exjierience agrees with JMr. Allen's, 

 as the following account will show. 



While I would not advise the reader to visit such an uncomfortable 

 place as Fort Yuma, from any great distance, merely to study the hab- 

 its of this bird, yet, it' he should by any unfortunate chance find him- 

 self at the ''Botany Bay of America" (as I have heard it called in the 

 Army), he will have an excellent opportunity of doing so ; for the Water 

 Turkeys are very common there. Meanwhile, let my experience answer 

 the purpose. 



We will walk abroad, in imagination, this fine September morning. 

 We leave camp as soon as it is light enough to see, for when the sun is 

 two or three hours high, we shall be glad enough to return to the shel- 

 ter of the verandah. Just now it is pleasant and comparatively cool, 

 for since midnight the thermometer has fallen below 90° ; it was 115° 

 in the shade yesterday afternoon, and will mark 100°, perhaps, to-day, 

 at breakfast time, when we return with an Ibis or two. No wonder we 

 prefer early rising. 



The Colorado makes a broad bend around the bluff we stand on, a 

 promontor}' with a neck of low laud, and the water on either side. The 

 Ibises will very likely be found in this swampy covert, into which we 

 descend by a steep, well-worn path, and are at once lost in the bushes. 

 Certainly, it is hard work to push along ; the bushes are thick and 

 determined enough to hold us back, even were they such well-disposed 

 and respectable members of the vegetable kingdom as grow in civilized 

 countries. But in Arizona, " no bush without a thorn ; '' even the oaks 

 have prickly leaves. Wide-spreading mimosas stretch out their skinny 

 arms and clutch us, and the claws of straggling acacias and mezquites 

 take hold. Lesser shrubs rattle ])rickly seeds around us ; we are con- 

 fronted with great piles of driftwood, and hedged about with compact 

 heaps of twigs and rushes, stranded by the last overflow. But Ibrtu- 

 nately the place is intersected with cattle-paths, along which we can 

 thread a devious way ; and though no Ibises are yet in sight, plenty of 

 other birds whistle and chirp encouragement. Coveys of Plumed Quail 

 are trooping along half-covered ways, clinking in merr;\' concert ; Abert's 

 Finches rustle in every tangle; in the green willow clumps Orange- 

 crowned Warblers are disporting, and sipping dew from leafy, scroll- 

 like cups. Now the path grows soft and oozy — we must take care, and 

 leap from log to log, or we shall sink up to the knees ; while here and 

 the^e the shallow, stagnant pools we are searching for appear. It is 

 to be hoped some Ibises are feeding around them ; let us creep now as 

 quietly as we can, and, if inclined to curse the twigs that crackle under 



