WHITE IBIS. 57 



plumage, from the male, or what changes both undergo 

 during the first and second years, I am unable to say 

 from personal observation. Being a scarce specie's 

 with us, and only found on our most remote southern 

 shores, a sufficient number of specimens have not been 

 procured, to enable me to settle this matter with 

 sufficient certainty. 



214. IBIS ALBA, VIEILL TANTALUS ALBUS, WILSON. 



WHITE IBIS. 

 WILSON, PLATE LXVI. FIG. III. 



THIS species bears in every respect, except that of 

 colour, so strong a resemblance to the preceding, that 

 I have been almost induced to believe it the same, in 

 its white or imperfect stage of colour. The length and 

 form of the bill, the size, conformation, as well as colour 

 of the leys, the general length and breadth, and even 

 the steel blue on the four outer quill-feathers, are exactly 

 alike in both. These suggestions, however, are not 

 made with any certainty of its being the same, but as 

 circumstances which may lead to a more precise exa- 

 mination of the subject hereafter. 



I found this species pretty numerous on the borders 

 of Lake Pontchartrain, near New Orleans, in the month 

 of June, and also observed the Indians sitting in market 

 with strings of them for sale. I met with them again 

 on the low keys or islands off the Peninsula of 

 Florida. Mr Bartram observes, that " they fly in large 

 flocks or squadrons, evening and morning, to and from 

 their feeding places or roosts, and are usually called 

 Spanish curlews. They feed chiefly on cray fish, whose 

 cells they probe, and, with their strong pinching bills, 

 drag them out." The low islands above mentioned 

 abound with these creatures and small crabs, the ground 

 in some places seeming alive with them, so that the 

 rattling of their shells against one another was incessant. 

 My venerable friend, in his observations on these birds, 

 adds, " It is a pleasing sight at times of high winds, 



