32 A Breeding Colony of the Sacred Ibis. 



Y. — A Visit to a Breeding Colony of Ibis sethiopica 

 {Sacred Ibis). By Austin Roberts. 



Whilst travelling from Springs to Witbank I discovered a 

 " pan " overgrown with reeds, around which were numbers 

 of Herons and Sacred Ibis. Stopping for a few minutes I 

 observed an Ibis carrying a long rush in its mouth flying 

 round, evidently waiting for us to move away ; eventually it 

 alighted at a spot which I carefully noted but had not, that 

 day, time to investigate. 



On the 11th December, 1904 — about a fortnight later — I 

 again visited the spot, and, wading in to a depth of about 

 4 feet amongst the rushes and scattered reeds, came across 

 two colonies of this species — one consisting of seven nests, four 

 containing three eggs and throe containing two ; the other 

 consisting of three nests, one of which held three eggs and 

 the remaining two two. The birds did not observe me until 

 I was quite close at hand : some were sitting on the eggs and 

 others standing up. The one nearest me was pulling up the 

 rushes near her nest and placing them round her feet ; there 

 were only two eggs in her nest — evidently not the full 

 complement. 



The nests in each colony were built on a common platform 

 of rushes, the seven nests not covering more than 4 feet 

 square of space ; each nest was about from 10 to 15 inches 

 across at the top, being raised about 6 inches above the water, 

 and circular, with a depression in the centre for the eggs. 

 The nests were so close together that it is hard to conceive 

 how all the birds could sit on their eggs without getting in 

 each other^s way. 



The eggs are of a dirty white ground-colour, becoming 

 darker as they advance in incubation, from the mud brought 

 to the nests by the feet of the parents. Some of them are 

 prettily marked with streaks and spots of light brown round 

 the thicker end, but by far the majority were hardly marked 

 at all. 



Later in the day I found another small colony of about 



