IBISES : Family Threskiornithidae [119] 



only definite Oregon record outside of Harney County. There is an old 

 dismounted bird in the National Museum (Cat. No. 12.630) from the 

 "Columbia River Oregon" taken on the T. R. Peale U. S. Exploring 

 Expedition. Nothing further is known about it. If it is actually an 

 Oregon specimen, it probably came from the vicinity of Portland, but the 

 record is not definite enough for a locality record. 



The young in the nest are unlovely creatures, being awkward, angular, 

 and scantily covered with dull black down, relieved only by a white 

 patch on the crown. In August, after the young are able to fly, these 

 ibises are to be found in the wet meadows or shallow ponds in Harney 

 Valley, feeding on the small aquatic life crustaceans, water insects, 

 frogs, and the like the dull black youngsters and ragged molting adults 

 being but poor caricatures of the brilliant spring adults. Their move- 

 ments and flight are much like those of the curlew strong and rapid 

 the flocks sometimes indulging in swift aerial evolutions as perfectly 

 synchronized as those of some sandpipers. 



