CICONIID.E — THE STORKS — TANTALUS. 



83 



ui)on its shoulders, and its enormous bill resting, like a scythe, upon its breast. 

 In this manner the bird is said to pass most of its time, until awakened by the 

 calls of hunger ; and it is also mentioned that it is easily approached and shot, 

 and is by many of the inhal)itants a(!counted excellent food. These were Mr. Bar- 

 tram's observations ; and for several of his statements he is severely taken to task 

 by Mr. Audubon. 



J)r. Henry l?ryant, however, who has since gone over the same ground on the St. 

 John's as Hartrara did, and in the same way, remarks, in commenting upon Audu- 

 bon's criticisms, that the latter should have remembered that the habits of birds 

 vary at different times and in different places, and states that, strange as it may 

 seem when the long period of time that has elapsed is taken into view, his Jour- 

 nal is almost an exact repetition of Jiartram's. While in Florida he never saw a 

 flock of Wood Ibises except at their breeding-places ; and even there, except when 

 they were disturbed, they flew off and returned either singly or in pairs. He did 

 not see them feeding in more than a few instances, and then there was never more 

 than a pair at a time. The stomachs of all those that were killed by Dr. IJryant 

 contained only crayfish, which could not readily be procured in the manner Audubon 

 declares to be its only method of feeding. 



The Wood Ibis is found distributed over a large portion of South America, 

 Central America, Mexico, and the southern portions of North America. It is 

 iV)und in all the Gulf States, is most abundant in Florida, straggles into Georgia, 

 South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentuirky, and is not uncommon in Southern Illinois 

 and Missouri, but occurring more rarely in Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, and Utah. 

 lUirmeister speaks of it as common on the banks of the Ttarana liiver, in small 

 tlocks, going from one lagoon to another, rarely seen except when flying. When 

 on the ground it always conceals itself in the reeds, and is hardly ever visible 

 there. 



Mr. Salvin mentions it as not uncommon about the large rivers in the forests 

 of the Pacific coast region of Guiitemala. It is there known among the Spanish 

 by the name of Alcatras. Mr. Salvin afterward met with it on the Pacific sea- 

 coast of Guatemala among the lagoons; and Mr. G. C. Taylor mentions meeting 

 with it in Honduras, near the village of Lamani. 



Keferring to this species, Mr. C. Barrington Erown, in his work on British 

 (iuiana, makes frequent mention of meeting with large birds, called by some, Sowe- 

 wies, by others, Negroscopes. He found them numerous in that region, and to be 

 seen in large numbers on the sand-beaches of the River Essequibo. He describes 

 their heads and necks as bare of feathers and as covered with a hard black skin 

 divided by furrows into plates. Their white bodies contrasted with their black 

 wings. They were frequently to be seen soaring high up into the heavens, in 

 circles, mounting up higher sind higher, until they appeared like mere specks. 



In the Mississippi Valley this bird wanders occasionally as far north as Chicago 

 and Eacine ; in the Red River region of Texas it Avas observed by Lieutenant 

 M'Cauley as far up as the Staked Plains. It was also seen by Mr. Henshaw at 

 Rush Lake in Utah, where he procured two specimens in October. Mr. Bischoff 

 met Avith it in Nevada in July. 



This bird is said to congregate at times in large numbers high up in the air, 

 where, with hardly any apparent motion, it sweeps in extended circles, in a man- 

 ner not unlike the graceful movements of the Turkey Vulture, with which bird it 

 is also not unfrequently seen to associate. 



Dr. Gundlach includes it among the birds that breed in Cuba ; and it probably 



