26 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



these ibises were breeding in immense numbers, they had young of 

 all ages, many of them able to fly. 



On the west coast of Florida, in Pinellas County, I found two 

 breeding colonies, which I visited several times during the spring of 

 1925. A small colony of 60 or 75 pairs occupied a small island in 

 Holmes Pond, about 3 miles north of Clearwater. This is a marshy 

 pond overgrown with pickerel weed and arrowhead around the border, 

 and with "bonnets" {Nymphaea) and white pond lilies in the deeper 

 portions ; there are a few boggy islands in it covered with small trees 

 and bushes and some scattered patches of saw grass. 



When Mr. Baynard first showed me this pond, on December 27, 

 1924, no ibises were seen or even mentioned; so I was surprised to 

 find on my next visit, on April 7, a fine little colony estabUshed there 

 and well along with its nesting. I waded out to the island in water 

 more than waist deep and found an interesting little mixed colony of 

 Ward, little blue, Louisiana, and black crowned night herons among 

 which the ibises were nesting. It was a treacherous, boggy, half-float- 

 ing island, thickly overgrown with large elders ( the largest I have 

 ever seen), willows, bays, wax myrtles, and a tangle of small bushes 

 and vines. The nests of the ibises were placed at the lower levels, 

 from 6 to 10 feet above the mud or water, and were similar in con- 

 struction to those described above. Some of the nests were not yet 

 finished, some held incomplete sets and some had three or four eggs. 

 I visited this colony again on April 22, when some of the nests con- 

 tained small young. 



One of the largest and most prosperous colonies of Florida water 

 birds that I have ever seen is on a largo island known as Bird Key, 

 in Boca Ceiga Bay, Pinellas County. It is now permanently establi- 

 shed as a United States Bird Reservation, under the auspices of the 

 Biological Survey, and is carefully guarded by an efficient warden, 

 Harold Bennett. The whole island is heavily and thickly wooded 

 with red and black mangroves, buttonwoods, willows, bays, and other 

 trees and shrubs ; the principal forest growth is made up of large 

 black mangroves, many of which are 25 or 30 feet high and some 

 higher. I made seven trips to this rookery during the winter and 

 and spring of 1924 and 1925. When Mr. Bennett fii-st took me to 

 the island, on December 23, very few birds were in evidence, except 

 that a number of Ward herons were already nesting in the tops of 

 the tallest trees; they increased in numbers later. I did not visit 

 the island again until March 11, when I found things in full swing; 

 thousands of American egrets were well along with their nesting and 

 apparently all had eggs; the Florida cormorants were still more 

 abundant and wore busy with thoir courtships and nest building in 

 the tops of the tall black mangroves; the Ward heron's nests mostly 

 contained young; and a small colony of yellow-crowned night herons. 



