32 MEMOIRS OF THE XUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



The Spoonbills are very shy and much reduced in numbers as 

 compared with Gundlach's time, and as they cannot hope for sympathetic 

 protection, or for enforced protection even if laws are passed, they are 

 surely doomed. 



26. Eudocimus albus (Linne). 

 White Ibis; Coco Blanco. 



White Ibises were reported by Gundlach to exist in incredible bands 

 in many parts of the country. Now they are much reduced, although in no 

 immediate danger of extinction. I have seen bands of no mean size along 

 the wild northern coast of Pinar del Rio, about Palo Alto and elsewhere 

 along the south coast of Camaguey, in the Zapata Swamp and among 

 the cays of the north coast. They are, however, much rarer in Cuba than 

 in Florida, and many days will pass while one is constantly moving about 

 suitable localities when only an occasional singleton will be seen. Its 

 flesh is considered very delicate, which it really is. 



27. Plegadis falcinellus falcinellus (Linne). 

 Glossy Ibis; Coco Prieto. 



For several years I made annual trips to a plantation called San 

 Francisco, near Sarabanda, Gundlach's old headquarters for exploring the 

 Zapata Swamp. The proprietor, don Francisco Morales, offered me most 

 courteous hospitality, and daily his horses carried me down along the 

 course of the Rio Hanabana to where this river flowed out into the great 

 Swamp. The morass itself is bordered by a wide area of open country 

 with scattered clumps of palms and hardwood 'cayos,' the word here 

 being equivalent to the Floridian hammock. This border zone slopes 

 gently toward the Swamp and is wider or narrower as the rains cause the 

 whole Cienaga to rise or lower. The inner marshes of the Cienaga in general 

 consist of an enormous deposit of silt, held partially in suspension and 



