26 Contributions from the Charleston Museum. 



I have not been able thus far to find its breeding grounds, al- 

 though I am informed that the birds have enormous rookeries 

 near the Savannah River in Hampton county. The adult birds 

 leave the rice plantations about the middle of May, and, of course, 

 must go to their breeding grounds, which cannot be very far off. 

 The immature birds, however, remain on the rice plantations 

 throughout the entire summer, and I doubt if this species breeds 

 in the immature plumage. 



These birds are very rarely to be met with on the salt marshes, 

 although I have a record of large flocks seen there on July 29 and 

 August 8, 1894. A small flock of immature birds seen on the coast 

 was feeding upon "fiddler" crabs. On the rice plantations 

 crayfish appear to be their chief food. These birds have a 

 fetid odor, and even in prepared specimens the scent remains for a 

 long time. 



The local name of this species is "Gannet." 



FAMILY CICONIIDvE: STORKS AND WOOD IBISES. 



64. Mycteria americana Linn. Wood Ibis. 



This curious species can fairly be considered a permanent 

 resident as I have repeatedly observed a few that wintered here. 

 From the middle of June until the last of October, enormous 

 flocks composed entirely of young birds can be seen daily on 

 Copahee Sound in front of my house. The Wood Ibis is very 

 gregarious, being more often seen in flocks of thousands than 

 singly or in small numbers. It is generally shy but is sometimes 

 very unsuspicious and confiding. I have seen one of these birds 

 deliberately follow a boat as long as fish, which it devoured 

 ravenously, were being thrown to it, one at a time. 



It is a bird of the tidal flats while it is on the coast. When 

 the banks are being uncovered by the receding tide, large flocks 

 come to feed upon mullet and other small fish, but on the flood 

 tide they betake themselves to the woods on the coast islands for 

 fresh water and rest. I have never taken the eggs of this species, 

 but it breeds in some numbers in Caw-Caw Swamp, Colleton 

 county, where I observed a breeding colony on June 1, 1885, in a 

 large cypress swamp. 



