520 Mr. E. Gibson on the Ornithology of [Ibis, 



the cruel and pitiless persecution this most lovely and harm- 

 less bird was to undergo from the votaries of fashion, he 

 would have used his able pen and caustic wit to some 

 extent, if, as it may be anticipated, to no effect. To the 

 hunting of the Nutria (Myoptomus coypu) has succeeded 

 the pursuit of the " Pajaro bianco " or White Bird ; and the 

 war of extermination has raged for over two decades. To 

 show the lengths it was carried ; — In 1897 two hunters made 

 a raid on a nesting-colony of the Yngleses ; the uninvited 

 visitors were strangers to the district and had ridden all the 

 way from Mar del Plata (the well-known fashionable 

 watering-place thirty leagues to the south), having heard 

 that such a colony existed under my protection. As events 

 turned out, the protection proved effective ; for the poachers 

 were surprised early on the first morning of their would-be 

 exploits, and before they had killed more than a half-score 

 birds. 



Needless to say, none of my own people are allowed to 

 indulge in the bird-pkime trade. But it is a curious irony that 

 colonies of this nature sometimes ignore or are ungrateful 

 for the sanctuary afforded them. The settlement alluded 

 to consisted of this Egret {A. egretta), the Dark Night- 

 Heron (Nycticorasc obscurus Bp., Roseate Spoonbill (Jjaja 

 rosea Reich.), and White-faced Ibis (Plegadis guarauna 

 Linn.). Situated in a very deep swamp and totally isolated 

 from all traffic, the colony was only disturbed on the 

 occasions when n)y town-visitoi's desired to inspect it. If 

 these happened to include ladies I had a boat provided, 

 which was drawn by a horseman or by a harnessed horse 

 driven from the bows of the craft. As the thousands of 

 birds left their nests and hovered overhead in the brilliant 

 sunshine the scene was of extraordinary beauty — the snowy- 

 white Egrets, rose-pink and vermilion Spoonbills, iridescent 

 Glossy Ibises, and grey-blue Herons, all in kaleidoscopic 

 movement — with the blue sky above and blue water and 

 dark green rushes below ('' Move the boat a few yards, 

 Pedro," sotto voce, as an egg explodes in a near nest and a 

 whiff of sulphuretted hydrogen grows and spreads !). The 



