NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 41 



and crustaceans. Mr. Beebe (1910) found in the stomach of a young 

 female t he chetae or claws of a small crustacean, each about one-third of 

 an inch in length. Leotaud (1866) says that a scarlet ibis in captiv- 

 ity made itself useful in destroying the larvae of noxious insects. 

 He says that the bird never lost an opportunity of following anyone 

 who was spading the earth, in order to seize the morsels that were 

 uncovered. Of another captive bird the Rev. Mr. Dawson says that 

 it ate banana but preferied a diet of bread and milk to anything 

 else. 



The scarlet ibis feeds its young after tlie manner of the pelican. 

 F. P. and A. P.Penard (1908) state that the old birds gather the 

 food in the elastic gular pouches. Arriving at the nest they open 

 their bills and allow the young to take out the fish and other food. 

 Edwards (1847) describes the habit of feeding in the following words : 



We were amused by the manner of feeding the young scarlet ibises. In the 

 throat of the old female bird, directly at the base of the lower mandible, is an 

 enlargement of the skin, forming a pouch, which is capable of containing about 

 the bulk of a small hen's egg. She would return from fishing on the shallows 

 with the pouch distended by tiny fish, and allowed her young to pick them out 

 with their bills. 



F. P. and A. P. Penard (1908) state furtlier that if tlie parents 

 are killed at this time there are always others ready to take up the 

 duties of foster parents. 



Behavior.— Scarlet ibises live in communities, sometimes very large 

 ones, the members of which scatter after the breeding season and 

 wander in small flocks, or in pairs, or singly, along the coast and 

 rivers, seldom venturing far from the coast. The detached flocks 

 and stragglers return towards night to certain places to roost. August 

 Kappler (1887) says that they pass the night perched close together 

 in high trees. Individuals which I have seen sleeping (in captivity) 

 stood on one foot with the head and the long bill turned back and 

 resting on the back. 



Hagmann (1907), speaking of the birds in Brazil, says that they are 

 to be seen on the coast in the evening in big flocks returning from Mexi- 

 ana to their nesting sites in Cavianna. According to F. P. and A. P. 

 Penard (1908) the males appear to be more numerous than the 

 females. 



When traveling from place to place the {light of the scarlet ibis is 

 swift. In fl3nng the birds arrange themselves abreast in a line. F. P. 

 and A. P. Penard (1908), Schomburgk (1848), W. C. van Heurn 

 (1912), and Edwards (1847) speak of this manner of flight, but Leo- 

 taud (1866) says that in flying the individuals follow each other in 

 single file, and when the flock is large form an interminable lino. On 

 September 28, 1921, I saw a flock at the mouth of the Surinam 

 River, the members of which flew swiftly, close together, in an irreg- 

 ular line, side by side, not one behind the other. I did not notice 



