268 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



black wings and bill. The head is at first covered, but becomes 

 partially bare after the first moult. Four years are said to be required 

 for the bird to attain its full plumage. 



Wood Ibises seen by Stephens (1903, p. 76) along the Colorado 

 Kiver near Needles, in June, were not shy and were feeding in the 

 shallower parts of the lagoons, wading about where the water was a 

 few inches deep. Eight birds under observation by Feudge (1903, 

 p. 79) in San Bernardino County midway between San Bernardino 

 and Highlands, in the summer of 1901, and three seen in the same 

 locality on June 5, 1902, were foraging in damp fields and in the creek 

 bottoms, but were occasionally seen circling high in the air. Law 

 (1912a, p. 41) describes the manner in which a "Wood Ibis was feeding 

 at Dominguez Station, near Long Beach, on July 2, 1911, in the follow- 

 ing words: "It was standing almost knee deep in the muddy water, 

 and would insert its bill almost up to the eyes and then, standing on 

 one foot, would seem to be stirring up the water with the other foot." 

 The farmers in this vicinity stated that half a dozen of the birds had 

 visited the slough almost every day for a month. "One was shot 

 some years since at San Leandro . . . [Alameda County] having 

 incautiously alighted on a shade tree by the roadside" (Cooper, 1887, 

 p. 90). 



The carriage of the Wood Ibis is firm and sedate, almost stately; each 

 leg is slowly lifted and planted with deliberate precision, before the other is 

 moved, when the birds walk unsuspicious of danger. I never saw one run 

 rapidly, since on all the occasions when I have been the cause of alarm, the 

 bird took wing directly. It springs powerfully from the ground, bending 

 low to gather strength, and for a little distance flaps hurriedly with dangling 

 legs, as if it was much exertion to lift so heavy a body. But fairly on wing, 

 clear of all obstacles, the flight is firm, strong, and direct, performed with 

 continuous moderately rapid beats of the wing, except when the birds are 

 sailing in circles as above noted. When proceeding in a straight line the 

 feet are stretched horizontally backward, but the head is not drawn closely 

 in upon the breast, as is the case with Herons, so that the bird presents what 

 may be called a top-heavy appearance, increased by the thick, large bill (Coues, 

 1874, p. 516). 



The Wood Ibis . . . feeds entirely on fish and aquatic reptiles, of which it 

 destroys an enormous quantity, in fact more than it eats; for if they have been 

 killing fish for a half an hour and have gorged themselves, they suffer the rest to 

 lie on the water untouched, when it becomes food for Alligators, Crows and 

 Vultures. ... To procure its food, the Wood Ibis walks through shallow 

 muddy lakes or bayous in numbers. As soon as they have discovered a place 

 abounding in fish, they dance as it were all through it, until the water becomes 

 thick with the mud stirred from the bottom by their feet. The fishes, on 

 rising to the surface, are instantly struck by the beaks of the Ibises, and on 

 being deprived of life, they turn over and so remain. In the course of ten or 

 fifteen minutes, hundreds of fishes, frogs, young alligators, and water-snakes 

 cover the surface, and the birds greedily swallow them until they are completely 



