The Roseate Spoonbill 295 



well can be where they are shot, but surprisingly tame where they are 

 protected and fed. I have seen White Egrets roost nightly near a hacienda 

 in Cuba where they had learned they were safe, but those in the Cuth- 

 bert rookery were startled into sudden flight by the report of a gun fired 

 at a distance of a mile and a half. If, therefore, Spoonbills could be made 

 to realize that man was their friend rather than their enemy, they, too, 

 might learn to trust him. 



Although the Spoonbills in the Cuthbert rookery had nests contain- 

 ing eggs, they deserted them as soon as we entered the rookery. An 

 umbrella-blind was placed in one of the larger mangrove bushes, but after 

 hours of waiting no Spoonbills were seen. At sunset _ 



the birds of various species began to return to the In Cuthbert 

 rookery for the night. Flock after flock of White 

 Ibises, with bright red feet and faces, came to roost in favorite trees. 

 Louisiana herons greeted, with much talking, birds that had evidently 

 been absent during the day. Turkey Vultures silently sailed in to perch 

 in rows on the branches of a dead tree ; and suddenly six Spoonbills, with 

 resonant woof-woof.-woof of beating wings, alighted in my foreground 

 one of them within fifteen feet of me. As it grew darker the birds 

 became more numerous, pouring into the rookery from every side, and 

 as they settled for the night and disputed the possession of some perch 

 with their neighbors there arose a veritable Babel of voices. 



Their usual keen sight dimmed by the gloom, all the birds came to 

 be less shy. A Louisiana Heron sought what was doubtless its regularly 

 frequented perch within reach of my foot; others took adjoining limbs; 

 and, as the crowning event of the afternoon, a Spoonbill and two Snowy 

 Egrets roosted in the same tree with me. 



About a dozen Spoonbills' nests were situated in this rookery, four or 

 five of which held fresh eggs ; in one were four, in the others, three eggs. 

 These nests were in the mangroves, often near one another, and at an 

 average height of ten or twelve feet above the ground. 

 They were made of larger sticks than those used by Nest and Eggs 

 the American Egrets nesting near them. As a rule, 

 the sticks were rather loosely put together, so that the nests were far from 

 carefully made. 



The eggs of Spoonbills, as well as their habits and structure, indicate 

 that they are more nearly related to the Ibises than to the Herons. Instead 

 of being blue, like those of. Herons, the eggs are white, or pale greenish 

 blue, more or less heavily blotched with brown at the larger end and with 

 spots or specks scattered over the remaining surface, thus resembling the 

 eggs of the White Ibis. They measure about two and a half inches in 

 length, and one and three quarters in breadth. 



The eggs we found in the Cuthbert rookery on March 29 were freshly 

 laid, but we had reason to believe that the birds had been robbed, and 

 that this was .a second laying. Audubon says that the eggs are laid about 

 the middle of April, but there are specimens in the United States National 



