52 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



other States have been either indefinite or have proved upon investi- 

 gation to refer to the white-faced glossy ibis. 



Egg dates. — Florida: G records, April 1 to May 25. Continental 

 Europe: 14 records, April 16 to June 13; 7 records, May 16 to 29, 



PLEGADIS GUARAUNA (Linnaeus) 



WHITE-FACED GLOSSY IBIS 



HABITS 



My first real aquaintance with this handsome bird was made in 

 Texas in 1923, where we were told that there was a large breeding 

 colony of "bronze ibises" to be found way off on the prairies of 

 Refugio County. During a drive of some 70 miles over the rough 

 muddy roads through the "hog-wallow prairies," we had occasionally 

 seen little bands of ibises feeding in wet places, or straggling flocks 

 of them flying from the shores of ponds or banks of rivers, aU head- 

 ing in the same direction. They had been spread out over many 

 miles of country to feed and were now returning to their rookery; 

 the direction of their flight helped us to locate it. So we turned off the 

 road and drove for some three miles across the prairie, picking our 

 way through scattered clumps of mesquite and huisache, or dodging 

 numerous prickly-pear cacti, until we came to the shore of a marshy 

 lake. The shores of the lake were lined with tules and the center of 

 it was one great tule swamp, separated from us by 50 yards of open 

 water. Ibises were coming and going and over the tules a few of 

 them were circling. But it was not until we had partially stripped 

 and waded out to it, in water nearly up to our armpits, that we 

 realized what a large colonj^ we had found. 



Nesting. — Before we reached the tules the birds began to rise and 

 soon there was a bewildering cloud of them circling overhead, uttering 

 their pecidiar cries of protest. And looking through the more open 

 spaces we could see the large brown birds leaving their nests, flopping off 

 over the water or scrambling through the thicker tules. Many of these 

 were young birds, for at that date. May 19, most of the eggs had 

 hatched and some of the young were able to fly. As soon as we entered 

 the tules, which grew far above our heads, we began to find nests. 

 Many of them were in the more open places where they could be 

 plainly seen, but many more were in dense clumps of tules where it 

 was difficult to penetrate. Progress was so slow and so difficult, in 

 the deep water and dense tangles, that we did not attempt to explore 

 the whole rookery; I could form no definite idea of its extent or how 

 many birds it contained ; but as far as we could see over the big 

 expanse of marsh, bjrds were constantly arising and alighting; there 

 must have been several thousands of them. The nests were built in 

 more or less open clumps of tules and attached to them; some were 

 partially floating shallow platforms barely above the water; others 



