536 On the Ornithology nf Cape San Antonio. [Ibis, 



By no means a wild bird, a horseman caii approach or pass 

 within a short distance, and even the human habitation is 

 not shunned. On one occasion, at a small pond in the 

 outskirts of the town of Ajo and not more than forty yards 

 from a somewliat busy building, I noted as I rode past 

 the following — one singularly beautiful adult Spoonbill, 

 various Ibises, two species of Wild Duck, some Brazilian 

 Stilts, and two Domestic Duck, all of which (with the 

 exception of the Wild Duck) absolutely took no notice 

 of me. On a hot summer's forenoon (of 1914) a single 

 Spoonbill came over the Yngleses dwelling-house and. 

 sweeping low down, passed over the patio and out by 

 one of the side-entrances, an occurrence which I was led 

 to annote as " decidedly incongruous." Botii Hudson and 

 myself have mentioned how it can be domesticated when 

 young. In former years I have occasionally seen it in 

 company with Egrets, Brazilian Stilts, and Spur-winged 

 Lapwings in tlie patios of " fondas " and private houses iu 

 the town of Dolores. 



Fish-fry is the food I have found in the crop. 



The note of the adults is a croak ; that of the young a 

 cheep. 



It was not until the 30th of November, 1885, that I found 

 the Spoonbill nesting iu the heart of the great Cisiieros 

 caiiadon, in company with the White-faced Ibis [Plegadis 

 guarauna Linn.). The colony was a large one, but working 

 on foot, as desci'ibed under the last-named species, and with 

 my view circumscribed by the high rushes, it was not in my 

 power to form au estimate of the actual number. The nests 

 were built solely of dry junco, and consisted of a light 

 shallow platform with a small hollow in the centre at an 

 elevation of about eighteen inches from the surface of the 

 water. Three and four were the general clutches of eggs ; 

 but on revisiting the colon}' on the 15th of December, when 

 all the nests were hatched out, I found the broods consisted 

 generally of two, ouly occasionally three, young. The 

 following year (1886), on the 30th of October, the colony 

 was in situ again, but fortuitous circumstances prevented 



