WHITE IBIS 79 



with one in its thieving bill. Not a protest was offered 

 by the Ibis or Herons, while they sat quietly near and saw 

 their homes pillaged by the renegades. There should be 

 a special bounty placed on the scalp of the Fish Crow by 

 the states where it thrives from its ill-gotten gains. 



On nearing a rookery, one day, I saw a great flutter- 

 ing of white wings in a mangrove tree. On going nearer, 

 I found that a White Ibis had by some means caught its 

 foot in the fork of a small limb and was dangling head 

 downward. I released the bird but its leg was badly 

 fractured. The bones were protruding from the lacer- 

 ated flesh and skin. Here I brought to bear my profes- 

 sional skill, by anaesthetizing the bird, amputating its leg 

 and fixing it up, surgically speaking. I then made a 

 close-up photograph of its long, decurved, sickle-shaped 

 bill and turned the bird loose. (Fig. 24.) Six months 

 later, I received a letter from Mr. Ashburner, the warden, 

 telling me that my one-legged patient was, to all appear- 

 ance, well and thriving. Because of the habit these birds 

 have of resting on one leg, let it be hoped that my patient 

 will manage to get along, in the years to come, with its 

 remaining support. 



