SPOONBILLS, IBISES, STORKS 



179 



Uf all the various species of Storks known to 

 inhabit the earth, only two are found in North 

 America. Une of these, the Jabiru (Jabini 

 mvctcria) of tropical America, occasionally 

 wanders north to Texas, but the other species, 

 the Wood Ibis, is with us in goodly numbers. 

 They breed in the southern United States, chiefly 

 in Florida. They are gregarious at all times, 

 although now and then small bands wander away 

 from the main flock. I once saw at least five 

 thousand of these birds in a drove feeding on a 

 grassy prairie of central Florida. When dis- 

 turbed by the report of a gun they arose, a vast 

 white and black mass, and the roar of their wings 

 coming across the lake resembled nothing so 

 much as the rumbling of distant thunder. 



Thev breed in colonies nimibering hundreds or 

 thousand of pairs, and they always select the 

 tallest trees for nesting sites. For several years 

 the Audubon Society has been guarding a colony 

 in " Big Cypress " swamp of south Florida. In 

 the rookery nearly every tree has its nest and 

 some of the cypresses with wide-spreading limbs 

 hold six or eight of them. This colony occupies 

 an area of from two hundred to five hundred 

 yards wide and about five miles in length. Here, 

 as in other rookeries, Fish Crows are a great 

 scourge. All day a stream of Crows can be seen 

 flving from the pine woods to the swam]), or re- 

 turning with eggs stuck on the end of their bills. 



I had the opjiortunitv to witness the rather odd 

 manner in which these birds sometimes get their 

 prey. The water was low at this season and in 

 the pine flats various ponds, which ordinarily 

 cover many acres, were partially or entirely 

 dried up. One of these, now reduced to a length 

 of about one hundred feet and with a width ])er- 

 haps half as great, contained many small fish 



crowded together. Thirty-seven Wood Ibises 

 had taken possession of this pool and seemed to 

 be scratching the bottom, evidently for the pur- 

 pose of making the already thick water so muddy 

 that the fish would be forced to the surface. The 

 numerous downward strokes of the bare, bony 

 heads fully demonstrated the eft'ectiveness of 

 their enterprise. " Goard Head,'' "Iron Head," 



i^hoto by H. K. Jub Courlcs\- I'C DoubleJay, Page & Co. 



YOUNG WOOD IBIS 



and " Gannet " are the appellations given to 

 these birds bv many swamp-dwellers to whom the 

 name Wood Ibis is unknown. 



After the breeding season these Storks wander 

 north as far as Pennsylvania and Michigan. 

 Often one mav find them on the wide marshes, 

 either salt- or fresh-water, standing perfectly 

 still for an hour or more at a time, the long heavy 

 bill pointed downward and resting on the skin of 

 the thick, naked neck. On such occasions they 

 seem to represent the personification of dejection. 



T. Gilbert Pe.arson. 



