8 Mr. E. Gibson on the Oriiit/iolo(/t/ of [Ibis, 



the tide) and were basking in the brackish shallows of the 

 laguna. I subsequently shot one other, after many failures, 

 but without the satisfaction attached to the first. Indeed, 

 a Avild Swan with the right-hand barrel and a Grey Mullet 

 with the choke, as a "right-and-left/' reads some';;\'hat like 

 a shooting and fishing yarn combined. 



The species continues to be as abundant as ever in this 

 district and its vicinity ; on the 19th of March, 1914, I saw 

 a flock of some hundreds on the Saladas laguna, fifteen 

 leagues to the south. It is little persecuted, the local value 

 of the skin (my date is of 1899) being only 25 cents., or 5d. 

 Thirty or forty years ago I used frequently to hear the 

 familiar whistling note as pairs or flocks passed over the 

 city of Buenos Ayres at night ; now they evidently give 

 that great capital, so glaring and full of light, a very wide 

 berth. 



The breeding-habits have been described at length (• Ibis,' 

 1880, p. 35). I may add, since then, that two nests taken 

 on the 1st of July, 1899, are dated practically in the middle 

 of winter ; while one of the 24lh of March, 1914 (with four 

 incubated eggs), is very late in the autumn. I also record 

 another clutch of six eggs, the second instance, the usual 

 number being five or four. On the same date (21 Novem- 

 ber, 1913) on which I took this nest of six fresh eggs my 

 diary has the following entry: "'As the raft (horse-drawn 

 pontoon) emerged from a deep belt of juncos we came across 

 a pair of Swans with three half-grown cygnets. The two 

 old birds swam rapidly away from the open water where we 

 had surprised them with the young in line between them, 

 the female (as I take it) leading. When about to gain the 

 shelter of the rushes in the deep caiiadon, the male returned 

 alone and proceeded, to lead in front of the raft for a con- 

 siderable distance; then it rose and flew forward, finally 

 settling on the water a long way ahead." From the fore- 

 going it will be seen that the nesting-season is very 

 irregular. 



Average measurement of eggs 106 x 66 mm. 



