50 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



damage to growing crops they do; the crayfish destroys the spawn of fish, which 

 in turn live off the eggs and young mosquitos. The deduction is self-evident to- 

 anyone when we consider the vast amount of territory in Florida that is covered 

 with water. The crayfish also destroy levees on the rivers and cause the 

 destruction of millions of dollars damage to growing crops. 



Snakes, especially the moccasins, which, by the way, comprised 95 per cent of 

 the snakes captured by the ibis, do lots of harm. Moccasins in rookeries destroy 

 thousands of eggs and young birds, and even if they didn't they are so deadly 

 poisonous that anything that helps to keep them down to reasonable numbers 

 is welcome. 



Behavior. — I must quote again from Mr. Baynard (1913) regard- 

 ing the behavior of this species: 



The disposition of the old glossy ibis towards the other ibis and herons is not 

 good. I will have to admit that the glossy is pugnacious towards them, and 

 one will never find an occupied nest of any other species as near as 10 feet to a 

 glossy nest when they have reached the point where it is about time for the young 

 to hatch. They will run off ibis and herons regardless of size and all the other 

 birds seem to recognize their superiority and leave. Then happens a peculiar 

 thing. The fish crows will, of course get the deserted eggs at once and then the 

 glossy ibis will begin dismantling these old nests, pulling them apart and drop- 

 ping the sticks down on the ground, or in the water, whichever happens to be 

 underneath, saving any sticks that appeal to them and taking them back to 

 their own nest. I noticed that it took six days for this pair to dismantle 14 

 white ibis nests and 3 little blue heron nests that they had made leave. The 

 worst of it was that one of the white ibis had baby young in and when they 

 died the glossies threw them out of the nest. It is barely possible, however,, 

 that the pair of white ibis that had used this nest were killed on their feeding 

 grounds and failed to return, as this is the only instance where I ever noted the 

 glossy dismantling a nest occupied by young. 



The notes of the glossy ibis are very hard to explain so that any one would 

 have the least idea how they sounded. The note of the white ibis is three grunt- 

 ing notes, sometimes uttered distinct, but more often sounding like a continuous 

 note. The glossy starts off exactly like the white ibis with a grunting sound and 

 then uttering four distinct notes resembling what to my mind best explains them» 

 the bleating of a young calf or sheep. The ibis sounds as though there was some- 

 thing in the throat that gives a guttural sound. I became quite expert in imi- 

 tating them, so much so that I could many times fool the yovmg, but as for writ- 

 ing it, that is beyond me. This note is usually used in all cases when they ap- 

 proach the nest and when they are leaving and just as they take wing. They 

 have another scries of notes they use when caressing each other and caressing 

 the young and the female has a very soft note, sort of cooing, that she uses when 

 feeding the young when they are only a few days old. The young themselves 

 never appear to make any notes except when trying to avoid a person, when they 

 utter a squawking note of fear. The two nests in question were placed quite 

 close to each other and as the young arrived at the age of two weeks and more 

 they could always recognize their parents' notes even before I could distinguish 

 them. I always knew which old birds were approaching by the actions of the 

 young birds in the nest. They never in all the time I observed them made a mis- 

 take and put on the alert and expectant look for the parents of the other nest. 

 I could not distinguish any material difference in the notes of the four adult birds, 

 with the possible exception of the female of the nest photographed; she appeared to 

 have a coarser tone to her calls. Glossy ibis appear to have less enemies than any 



