1 91 9-] Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 529 



a great canadou), and as I rode round tlie covering belt or 

 thicket of durasnillos they rose in grand and vvikl confusion, 

 the bulk of them to settle down again ; whilst others, in 

 pairs or small flocks, made off to the neighbouring Real 

 Viejo swamp. Seen soaring, or flying at a height, the 

 Wood-Ibis bears a considerable resemblance to the Maguari 

 Stork in size, majestic flight, and jjluraage, whilst the naked 

 head and different colouring of the feet are not readily 

 distinguished. In these cases I have found the curved bill 

 of the former, outlined against the sky, the readiest clue to 

 identification. So far as my experience goes the Wood-Ibis 

 is mute. 



327. Plegadis guarauna Linn. White-faced Ibis. 



Confirming what I wrote formerly on this Ibis — the 

 "Cuervo^' or Crow, as the misai)plie(l Hispano-American 

 rendering designates it, — Hudson furnishes further infor- 

 mation. Which, again, I would wish to supplement from 

 my later notes. 



That it is a migrant is undoubted; but, so far as this 

 locality is concerned, the inrush may take place as easily 

 in the autumn as the spring, gi\eii the favourable con- 

 ditions of heavy rains. As a rule, it is scarcer in the winter 

 months, tiiough always resident; but even then, in certain 

 years, I have known it to be about in large flocks at the end 

 of June and onwards. Altogether my diary affords much 

 general data, in which would-be deductions are constantly 

 subverted by distriicting variations. 



It is in the early spring, however, that one looks for the 

 great migration proceeding from the south. The arrivals 

 are coincident with the spring rains, and if the former are 

 unusually numerous a wet or flood-season may be anticipated. 

 I liave frequently heard the remark from old Gauchos on 

 these occasions : "There are many flocks of Cuervos coming- 

 in, Patron ; look to yourself, for a flood comes also." And 

 the prognostication was always correct, as I know from grim 

 experience. How of ten have I lingered at the "Fenometer^^ 

 or swamp gauge-post, after noting that it marked another 



