NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 25 



Breeding there the brown pelican, the purple, the Louisiana, the white, and 

 the green herons, two species of galUnule, the cardinal grosbeak, crows, and pigeons. 

 The vegetation consists of a few tall mangroves, thousands of wild plum trees, 

 several species of cactus, some of them nearly as thick as a man's body, and 

 more than 20 feet high, different sorts of smilax, grape vines, cane, palmet- 

 toes, Spanish bayonets, and the rankest nettles I ever saw. As we entered that 

 well-known place, we saw nests on every bush, cactus, or tree. Whether the 

 number was one thousand or ten I can not say, but this I well know — I counted 

 47 on a single plum tree. These nests of the white ibis measure about 15 inches 

 in their greatest diameter, and are formed of dry twigs intermixed with fibrous 

 roots and green branches of the trees growing on the island, which this bird 

 easily breaks with its bill; the interior, which is fiat, being finished with leaves 

 of the cane and some other plants. 



On my two visits to Cape Sable in 1903 and 1908 we found no 

 signs of this rookery and no island that answered his description. 

 Most of the colonies of white ibises that I have seen have been in 

 fresh-water lakes or marshes at some distance from the coast. My 

 fii'st experience with the nesting habits of this species was in the 

 great Cuthbert rookery in Monroe County, Fla., to which I have 

 made two visits, and which I have fully described under the preced- 

 ing species. As we approached the little island the ibises arose in a 

 great white cloud from the red mangroves and circled about ovei 

 om" heads, uttering their peculiar grunting notes of protest. We 

 estimated that there were about 1,000 ibises in the colony. They 

 soon settled down into the trees again when we landed and were con- 

 stantly peering at us through tlxe foliage while we were examining 

 their nests. The ibises' nests occupied the intermediate belt, on the 

 outer edge of the larger trees on the dry land and on the inner edge 

 of the red mangroves over the mud and shallow water, the interior 

 of the island being occupied by the herons and the outer edge of the 

 mangroves by the cormorants. The nests were rather closely grouped, 

 at heights varying from 8 to 15 feet on the horizontal branches of 

 the mangroves, often on very slender branches; only a few were 

 placed in the white " buttonwoods ." They were very carelessly and 

 loosel}^ made of dry and green leaves of the mangroves, held together 

 with a few small sticks and lined with fresh green leaves. The nests 

 are probably added to as the eggs are laid or as incubation advances. 

 The nests which contained only one egg were very small, flims}' 

 structures, hardly large enough to hold the egg, often measuring only 

 six inches across, while those with three eggs were larger, 10 inches or 

 more across, and better made. They generally lay four eggs, and in 

 such cases have large and well-built nests. At the time of our visit. 

 May 1, 1903, the ibises in this rookery were only just beginning to 

 lay, as most of the nests contained one or two eggs, none more than 

 three, and all the eggs we collected were fresh. This was rather 

 remarkable, considering that 15 days later, at Alligator Lake, where 



