54 WILD WINGS 



able muddy bayous, about thirty feet wide, bordered by thick- 

 ets of mangrove. The trees were fairly alive with splendid 

 great birds and their half-grown young. The most abundant 

 was the White Ibis, a fine creature, snow-white, with black 

 wing-tips and brilliant red legs and bills, both long, the latter 

 decurved. They are locally called " White Curlews," and are 

 esteemed as one of the best and most abundant food-birds of 

 the region. Their young are of a dark gray color, with white 

 on the rump, and were now in the stage when, though unable 

 to fly, they had left the nests. The woods were fairly alive 

 with them. Droves of them raced over the ground under the 

 mangroves or climbed among the branches in all directions. 



Next in abundance was the little Louisiana Heron, the 

 common blue-gray species with white under parts, whose 

 young were in about the same condition as the young ibises, 

 and mingled with them. Across the bayou we could hear, 

 though not see, the large, graceful, snow-white American 

 Egrets, and their young. As with the peacock, beauty of 

 form and plumage is not matched with sweetness of song, 

 and this lovely dream of a bird speaks in harshest, rattling 

 grunts. Much the same is true of the elegant little Snowy 

 Heron, of plumage as its name implies, a few of which we 

 could see dropping into the woods beyond our muddy Jordan. 



But what almost paralyzed me with excitement was the 

 sight of half a dozen or so of large rosy-pink birds quietly 

 perched upon the trees just opposite us across the barrier 

 the Roseate Spoonbill on its nesting-ground ! Now and then 

 a rosy apparition of flying loveliness would take the eye. 

 What a spectacle, the dark green mangrove foliage dotted 

 with ibises of dazzling whiteness, " Pink Curlews " (the local 

 name), and blue-tinted herons ! Here I felt I had reached 

 the high-water mark of spectacular sights in the bird-world. 

 Wherever I may penetrate in future wanderings, I never 



