COLONIES OP IBIS. 79 



tinuous, we should doubtless have soon been able to accustom ourselves 

 to it, notwithstanding its irritating nature, and thus find a certain relief. 

 Hut so far from being continuous, it was quite the opposite. After a 

 period of extreme quiet, during which not a sound could be heard, sud- 

 denly, as though by a preconcerted signal, they would pour forth such a 

 pandemonium of discordant screams as would literally fill the air and 

 rebound in every direction from the walls of the caflon about us. After 

 keeping up this commotion and making night hideous for a period of 

 perhaps four or five minutes, they would gradually settle back into a state 

 of absolute quiet, which seemed all the more absolute by contrast with the 

 extreme turbulence of the one just closed. This quiet would continue for 

 from twenty to thirty minutes, perhaps, when we would be suddenly and 

 violently startled from the peaceful slumber into which, through sheer 

 fatigue, we had fallen, by the renewal, with increased energy, of this pan- 

 demonium, which would be poured forth with such volume as would lead 

 one to imagine that all the demons of Hades had been suddenly let loose 

 to wreak vengeance upon us for our desecration (?) of mother earth's 

 ancient sepulchres. The apparent propensity shown by these birds for 

 passing a considerable portion of the night in riotous disturbance was a 

 source of annoyance from which, during the month of October, we could 

 find no relief. They were particularly annoying to my companion, 

 though I cannot lay claim to having derived any pleasure from being an 

 unwilling listener to their nocturnal concerts. Indeed, the sensations 

 were similar, though augmented by many diameters, to those more 

 familiar which one experiences when tying to snatch a few hours of much 

 needed rest, while two representatives of the Felidae, perched conveniently 

 near the windows, with voices attuned to concert pitch, indulge in one of 

 those spirited nocturnal concerts for which tabby is so justly famed. For 

 a time the annoyance we experienced from these birds was suph that we 

 resorted to all sorts of devices to rid ourselves of them. On several oc- 

 casions Mr. Peterson was so exasperated that he took the shotgun and 

 fired several volleys into them. This had only a temporary effect, how- 

 ever, for while he would succeed in dislodging and driving them away, they 

 would never fail to return shortly afterward to their accustomed place. But 

 with all his imperfections the ibis has some good qualities. While they 

 were an undoubted source of annoyance to us throughout a considerable 

 portion of the night, shortly after midnight they would settle down to a 



