DESCRIPTIVE LIST 93 



J. J. Allen in December, 1903, and sent to the State Museum. One was shot on 

 a mill pond near Greensboro in January, 1904, and exhibited for some days in the 

 town at Clegg's Hotel. Pearson found one hanging in a market at Wilmington, 

 December 26, 1893, which was said to have been killed on Wrightsville Sound. 



A young swan is fairly good food, but disappointment lurks for the hungry man 

 who attempts to partake of an old one, unless the muscular tissues have first been 

 well softened by many hours of parboiling. 



While seldom hunted, we have yet to meet a wildfowl gunner at work who did 

 not when such an act was legal shoot a swan when opportunity occurred. 

 Comparatively few, however, were killed in North Carolina even then. 



As is the case with the Snow Goose, the head and upper neck of the Whistling 

 Swan are often stained with reddish-brown. 



VI. ORDER HERODIONES. HERONS, STORKS, IBISES, ETC. 



This order is composed of wading-birds, of medium and large size, furnished 

 with unusually long necks and legs. The toes are attenuated and often slightly 

 webbed at the base. The young are altricial, being only partly downy. This order 

 contains the birds known as herons, ibises, and storks, all voracious feeders on 

 snakes,, frogs, tadpoles, and other aquatic animal life. In North Carolina many of 

 the representatives of this order are commonly known as "Cranes." 



KEY TO FAMILIES 



Three families occur in our fauna, to be distinguished by the following key : 



1. Sides of upper mandible with a deep narrow groove, extending from the nostrils to the tip. 

 Ibises. Ibididce. 



1. Sides of upper mandible without long deep groove. See 2. 



2. Hind toe inserted more or less above the level of the others, middle claw not pectinate. 



Storks and Wood Ibises. Ciconiidce. 



2. Hind claw inserted on the level of the rest: middle claw pectinate on its inner edge. Herons 

 and Bitterns. Ardeidoe. 



The Roseate Spoonbill, Ajaia ajaja- (Linn.), or Pink Curlew, which belongs to this order, 

 doubtless occurred in North Carolina many years ago. There is a statement by Barton in 

 Fragments of Natural History, 1799, that it was sometimes, though rarely, seen about the 

 mouth of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina. (W. W. Cooke, U. S. Biological Survey, in 

 letter, October 13, 1908.) 



When at Lockwood's Folly, in the summer of 1898, strong evidence was presented to Pear- 

 son of the killing of one of these birds in that locality ten years previously. They are not now 

 known to breed north of southern Florida, where they are occasionally found in flocks fre- 

 quenting the margins of ponds, both inland and along the coast. This is a striking bird, 

 from 28 to 35 inches in length. Its colors are mainly pink and white, and the long bill is flat 

 and spoon-shaped, greatly widened near the tip. 



14. FAMILY IBIDID/E. IBISES 



Genus Guara (Reichenb.)- 



75. Guara alba (Linn.}. WHITE IBIS. 



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. (Chap., 

 Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. North and South America, regularly from South Carolina to Brazil and Peru. 



Range in North Carolina. -Occasional on our coast in summer. 



