218 IBISES 



pink color is very evident at a great distance, either against sky or 

 foliage. 



1908. CHAPMAN, F. M., Camps and Cruises, 141, 146 (Fla.). 



18. FAMILY IBIDID^. IBISES. (Fig. 37.) 



Ibises are distributed throughout the warmer parts of the globe; 

 they number about thirty species, of which four occur in North America. 

 They are usually silent birds, and live in flocks during the entire year. 

 They feed along the shores of lakes, bays, and salt-water lagoons, and 

 on mud flats over which the tide rises and falls. Their food consists 

 principally of crustaceans, frogs, and small fish. They fly with the 

 neck extended and their wing-strokes are often followed by a short sail. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



A. Plumage deep chestnut 186. GLOSSY IBIS. 



B. Plumage scarlet 185. SCARLET IBIS (Ad.). 



C. Plumage white 184. WHITE IBIS (Ad.). 



D. Back brown, belly white. 



a. Rump white 184. WHITE IBIS (Im.). 



b. Rump like the back 185. SCARLET IBIS (Im.). 



184. Guara alba (Lmn.). WHITE IBIS. (Fig. 37.). Ads. White, the 

 tips of the four outer primaries black; bare parts of the head orange-red. 

 Im. Head and neck white/ streaked with grayish brown ; upper back and 

 wings grayish brown; rump, breast and belly white. L., 25'00; W., 11.00; 

 Tar., 3-40; B. from N., 4'60. 



Range. N. and S. A., from L. Calif., Tex., and S. C., s. to West 

 Indies, Brazil, and Peru, and casually to Great Salt Lake, S. Dak., Ills., 

 Vt., Conn., and L. I.; winters from Gulf of Mex., southward. 



Long Island, two records. 



Nest, in colonies, of reeds and weed stalks, in trees, bushes and reedy 

 marshes. Eggs, 3-5, pale greenish white, with chocolate markings generally 

 most numerous at the larger end, 2*25 x 1*50. Date, s. Fla., Apl. 2. 



This locally abundant species is generally found in flocks of five or 

 six to as many hundred birds which frequent mud flats, marshes, or 

 the borders of lagoons. They fly in close rank, and when in large flocks, 

 with their snowy plumage glistening in the sunlight and their wing- 

 strokes accented by the black-tipped primaries, form a strikingly 

 beautiful picture. They progress by alternate flapping and sailing, the 

 neck being fully extended. Birds in the brown immature plumage may 

 be seen in large flocks in the spring, indicating that the birds do not 

 breed until at least their second spring. 



The SCARLET IBIS (185. Guara rubra), a South American species, has 

 been recorded from Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. 

 (See Brewster, Bull Nutt. Orn. Club., VIII, 1883, 185; also Scott, Auk, VI. 

 1889, 15.) 



186. Plegadis autumnalis (Hassclq.). GLOSSY IBIS. Ads. Rich 

 chestnut, upper and under tail-coverts, back, wings and front of the head 

 with greenish and purplish reflections; lores (in skins) blackish. Im. Head 

 and neck fuscous-brown, the feathers laterally margined with white; rest of 



