FAMILY CICONIIDAE 121 



wanders during the dry season, attracted to any aquatic haunt avail- 

 able when pools and channels begin to dry. 



These great birds are found regularly about cienagas and the 

 channels of extensive marshes, sometimes alone, sometimes in flocks. 

 The most western record on the Pacific coast is that of two that I saw 

 near Remedios, Chiriqui, January 30, 1955. Aldrich (Scient. Publ. 

 Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, 1937, p. 36) found them in 

 February 1932 around a drying lagoon near the head of Monti jo 

 Bay. And in Herrera in February and March 1948 I noted occasional 

 birds along the middle and lower courses of small streams, or on the 

 partly dry lagoons of the coastal plain. On March 10 we found a 

 flock of 75 at Cienaga de Buho and admired their flight as they 

 moved to perch in distant trees along the Rio Escota. A female shot 

 from a large tree standing in dry scrub back of the open playa at 

 Alvina, near the mouth of the Rio Santa Maria, had the ovaries so 

 far developed that it appeared that the laying season was near. On 

 January 17 and 20, 1963, I recorded a number on the salinas below 

 Aguadulce, Code. 



The wood ibis comes at intervals around Changuinola and Al- 

 mirante. It is seen occasionally along the Chagres (Fort San Lorenzo, 

 January 1, 1955) and around Gatun Lake, as one was taken in this 

 area by McLeannan (Lawrence, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New York, 

 vol. 7, 1861, p. 334). And one is recorded along the coast of San 

 Bias at Obaldia (Griscom, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 72, 1932, p. 

 311). In the lowland marshes between the Pacora and Bayano Rivers, 

 on the Pacific side, I have found them regularly. In seasons like 

 that of 1958, when the channels through the marsh remained full of 

 water, several hundred were present, and in other years I have found 

 dozens gathered on the drying cienagas. I have record of them also 

 at Chiman, on the Rio Chucunaque at the mouth of the Tuquesa, and 

 in the Tuira Valley near El Real and at the mouth of Rio Paya. 



While no colonies are on record, the wood ibis undoubtedly nests in 

 wooded swamps near the Chico and Bayano Rivers and also in the 

 great swamps on the northern shores of Golfo de San Miguel and 

 the lower Tuira. 



They appear ungainly when perched in trees because of the bare 

 head and neck, more attractive as they move or stand about channels 

 or pools, and magnificent when flocks pass on the wing, especially 

 when they circle in ascending air thermals. On occasion I have seen 

 them soaring with groups of hawks and vultures. 



The species is known commonly to the countryman in Panama as 

 the grulla, or crane. 



