COMPARATIVE OOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 4G9 



allies, we have an interesting group, presenting a number ofpeculiarities 

 in their oology. Dr. Sharpe says of the Ibises ('• Platalece") that in 

 Platdlea the eggs are "greenish-white" with spots, while in Ibis they 

 are "green" (I. c, p. 75). Now, Cones makes the statement that the 

 eggs of our American Spoonbill (Ajaja) are usually 3 in number, 

 "nearly elliptical and white" {Key, p. 652), while Mr. Kidgway gives 

 an entirely different description of them when he says that they are 

 "ovate, white, or buffy white, blotched, spotted, and strained with 

 various shades of brown" (Man., p. 123). 



A similar confusion of description is extended to the eggs of Ibises. 

 Coues says the eggs of the Glossy Ibis (P.falcinellus) are ovoidal in 

 shape and "greenish-blue" in color (Key, p. 041)), while Eidgway re- 

 marks that both Glossy Ibis and White-faced Glossy Ibis lay eggs of a 

 "plain greenish verditer blue" color (Manual, p. Ill); and Coues says 

 the last-named species lays green eggs, 3 or 1, rarely 5 in number (Key, 

 p. G51). Kidgway states that both the White Ibis and the Scarlet Ibis 

 (G. alba and rubra) lay eggs that are "greenish-white, buffy, or pale 

 brownish, stained, blotched, and spotted with brown" (Manual, p. 123). 

 Coues describes the eggs (3 in number) of G. alba as being of a "dull, 

 chalky white, blotched, and spotted with pale yellowish and dark red- 

 ish-brown" (Key, p. 051). When Dr. Sharpe in his description said the 

 eggs of the Ibis were "green," as cited above, he must have referred to 

 the Glossy Ibis, and not the Sacred Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus and not 

 Ibis (vthiopica), though he says "I6*s." Newton observes that the eggs 

 of the Sacred Ibis " are of a dingy white, splashed, spotted, and speckled 

 with reddish-brown;" and further remarks of the Glossy Ibis (P. falci- 

 nellus) that " one of the most remarkable things about this species is that 

 it lays eggs of a deep sea-green color, having wholly the character of 

 heron's eggs, and it is noticed that it often breeds in company with 

 herons, while the eggs of all other Ibises, whose eggs are known, re- 

 semble those of the Sacred Ibis." (Art. " Ibis," Encyl. Brit., v. xn, 

 p. 607.) 



Tantalus loculator, according to Coues, lays " eggs 2 to 3, elliptical 

 in contour, shell rough, with flaky substance; color white (Key, p. 053), 

 while Kidgway contends that the eggs of this bird are "usually more 

 or less stained, in streaks, with pale brownish." (Manual, p. 125.) 



Mr. Kidgway says that all our North American Herons (Ardra, Xycti- 

 corax) lay "plain, bluish-green eggs, varying in depth of color" (/. c, p. 

 128); Sharpe remarks that the eggs of the Ardece are "generally blue" 

 (/. c, p. 75); while Dr. Coues pretty thoroughly covers the ground for 

 the Herons when he observes that they " are altricial, and generally 

 nest in trees or bushes (where their insessorial feet enable them to 

 perch with ease), in swampy or other places near the water, often in 

 large communities, building a large, flat, rude structure of sticks. The 

 eggs vary in number, coincidently, to some extent, with the size of the 

 species; the larger Herons generally lay 2 or 3, the smaller kinds 5 or 

 0; the eggs are somewhat elliptical in shape and usually of an unvarie- 



