1 62 The Stork-like Birds 







Scarlet Ibis. Beyond doubt the most beautiful of all the Ibises is the mag- 

 nificent Scarlet Ibis (Guara rubra) of the eastern coasts of tropical America, 

 whence it ranges north casually, or once did, to Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, 

 though Mr. Ridgway^doubts if any of the United States records are valid. It is 

 from twenty-eight to thirty inches in length and is a uniform, pure, intense scarlet, 

 except the tips of the longer wing-quills, which are a glossy blue-black. Mr. 

 Ridgway says: " The scarlet color of this splendid bird is probably not exceeded 

 in purity and intensity. It is, in fact, the very perfection of that color. It far 

 surpasses the red of any Passerine bird known to us, even the plumage of the 

 Scarlet Tanager appearing dull and harsh beside it." The Scarlet Ibis is an 

 exceedingly rare bird in the United States and it is very doubtful if it ever nested 

 there. It is, or was once, a not uncommon visitor to Jamaica and Trinidad, where 

 it perhaps bred, but hardly does so now. In British Guiana and on the Rio 

 Negro it is said to be abundant, but its brilliant plumage is so much sought after 

 that it yearly decreases in numbers and may soon become totally extinct. It is 

 said to frequent river banks and swampy places and to feed on worms, soft 

 mollusks, and, perhaps rarely, fishes. The eggs, two and ten hundredths by one 

 and forty-five hundredths inches, are grayish white, thinly marked with small 

 blotches of light brown. 



White Ibis. Almost the exact counterpart of the Scarlet Ibis, except as 

 regards color, is the White Ibis (G. alba), which has the plumage pure white 

 throughout instead of scarlet, and the tips of the quills glossy greenish black in- 

 stead of blue-black. Its center of distribution is tropical America, extending 

 north, regularly, to North Carolina, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and 

 Lower California, while in winter it is found from the Gulf southward. The 

 White Ibis is locally abundant at many points along the coast, where they are 

 seen in flocks of six or eight to many hundreds. They apparently prefer fresh- 

 water regions, especially during the breeding season, but are not infrequently 

 found associated with various Herons, Pelicans, Cormorants, etc., along brackish 

 water lagoons. They nest in communities often of vast extent, placing the nests 

 in trees, bushes, and reedy marshes, Audubon recording the presence of forty- 

 seven of their nests in a wild-plum tree near Cape Sable, Florida, while Scott 

 found them in great abundance on Lake Butler, as well as at other points in 

 Florida, stating that the nests are similar to those of the smaller Herons, "except 

 that they were lined with leaves and were more carefully built." Four eggs is 

 the usual complement, these being pale greenish white spotted with chocolate- 

 brown, especially at the larger end, and averaging two and twenty-five hundredths 

 by one and fifty hundredths inches. 



Straw-necked Ibis. One of the most remarkable and interesting members 

 of the group is the Straw-necked Ibis (Carphibis spinicollis), which ranges over 

 the whole of Australia and Tasmania as well as portions of New Guinea, and takes 

 its common name from the presence on the sides of the fore neck of peculiar 

 long, straw-like and straw-colored plumes. About thirty inches long, this bird 

 has the bare portions of the head and neck dull inky black, while the back and 

 sides of the neck are clothed with a white down. The general color of the 



