WOOD IBIS. Ill 



Cayenne and Brazil, and in other parts of South America. In 

 the compass of the United States their principal residence is 

 in the inundated wilds of the peninsula of East Florida, and 

 they are not uncommon in Mississippi, Alabama, Carolina, 

 and Georgia, withdrawing from the north, however, at the 

 commencement of cold weather or about the month of 

 November. 



According to Bartram, who had many opportunities of ob- 

 serving them in Florida, they are solitary and indolent birds, 

 seldom associating in flocks, and usually frequent the banks 

 of the principal rivers, marshes, and savannahs, especially such 

 as are inundated, as well as the larger deserted rice-planta- 

 tions contiguous to the sea-coast. Here, alone, the feathered 

 hermit stands Hstless, on the topmost limb of some tall and 

 decayed cypress, with his neck drawn in upon his shoulders, 

 and his enormous bill resting like a scythe upon his breast. 

 Thus pensive and lonely, he has a grave and melancholy as- 

 pect, as if ruminating in the deepest thought ; and in this sad 

 posture of gluttonous inactivity these birds probably, like 

 Herons, pass the greatest part of their time, till, awakened by 

 the calls of hunger, they become active in quest of their prey 

 of snakes, young alligators, fish, frogs, and other reptiles. 

 They are easily approached and shot, when abandoned to 

 repose, and are by many of the inhabitants accounted as 

 excellent food. 



This Ibis is found in all the Southern States, though at present 

 it is not a common bird anywhere within our borders. Stragglers 

 have been met with north to New York, Ohio, Indiana, and 

 Wisconsin. 



Bartram's account of the hermit-like habits of the bird, quoted 

 by Nuttall, was criticised by Aubudon, who rarely met with a soli- 

 tary example, — the birds were always in flocks; but Dr. Henry 

 Bryant states that he never saw 2i flock of Wood Ibises excepting 

 at their breeding-place. The principal food of this species is small 

 fish, which are caught in the shallow waters, the Ibis scratching or 

 " raking " the bottom to startle its prey ; but a meal of frog, turtle, 

 bird, or snake is never neglected, and a young alligator is not safe 

 within reach of the bird's long and powerful bill. 



