40 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



latter finely and obscurely spotted with gray centrally along the basai 

 half of the shaft. 



When about 6 mouths old a few whitish or pale orange feathers 

 appear in the lesser wing coverts; the under parts, lower back, rump^ 

 thighs, and tail coverts now have a decided salmon or rosy wash, but 

 the axillars are still white; basal half of tail feathers white. A few 

 months later we find conspicuous patches of salmon or rose in the 

 lesser wing coverts and the interscapular region, and tjie under parts, 

 rump, and thighs have become if anything a little rosier, but the 

 axillars are still white, otherwise there seems to be no change in 

 appearance. 



The moult following this period is slow and ill defined. The bird 

 passes gradually through every stage and condition of mixed brown, 

 gray, white, rose, and scarlet, but through it all the outer primaries 

 particularly the first, and for a time the tail, remain dusky. The 

 head and neck, and nape are the last to become uniformly scarlet. 



The fully adult bird is deep scarlet throughout with the exception 

 of the tips of the four outer primaries which are of a deep blue color 

 almost black. 



F, P. and A. P. Penard (1908) describe the changes of plumage of 

 the Surinam bird as follows (translated) : 



During the breeding season the plumage of very old birds appears to have a 

 blood tint. Only the ends of the first four primaries are blacic. It seems as if 

 nature had, as it were, driven the colors of youth to the wing tips, of which a 

 few vanes are sometimes scarlet, too. 



After the breeding season the blood-red fades more or less to scarlet. The 

 young birds differ entirely from the adults, the plumage consisting of brownish 

 or whitish tints. Hunters say that the scarlet ibis requires at least three oi four 

 years to attain the fully adult plumage. The moulting or rather color change 

 is a study in itself. We have seen moulting birds from January to December. 

 As a rule the feathers of the back begin to change first, but these are also the 

 last to attain the brilliant scarlet color. Generally we meet with scarlet ibises 

 in adult plumage but with the feathers of the neck partly black, partly rose, or 

 partly naked, washed with rose. Even during the breeding season this is the 

 case. Birds in partly adult plumage, i. e., irregularly marked with blackish, white, 

 and scarlet, look very odd. 



Hunters assert that albinism also occurs in the form of a pale rose tint. The 

 writers have never seen one of these abnormal individuals. 



Food. — Scarlet ibises feed on the beaches and exposed mudflats or 

 in the shallows, often in company with herons, spoonbills, curlews 

 and other shore birds, walking or wading and prodding for hidden 

 morsels. In feeding the flocks tend to scatter and single individuals 

 or pairs may then be seen far from the main flock, sometimes many 

 miles from the coast. 



According to F. P. and A. P. Penard (1908) the food of the scarlet 

 ibis consists of small fish, spawn, and insects. Leotaud (1866) also 

 mentions soft mollusks, and Rev. Charles B. Dawson (1917) bivalves 



