IBIDID.E — THE IBISES. 



85 



tree. lu the spring months it collects in huge flocks before returning to its breed- 

 ing-place. When a breeding-place has been once chosen, this is resorted to for many 

 years in succession, and tlie birds are Avith difflcultv made to abandon it. This Ibis 

 feeds largely on fishes, and also devours frogs, young alligators, wood-rats, various 

 kinds of young birds, crabs, snakes, turtles, and the like. It is very tenacious of 

 lite, and if wounded resists vigorously, and is dangerous to approach. It is very 

 tougli and oily, and unfit for food. 



Mr. Moore states that the AVood Il)is, when feeding, rakes the oozy bottom, or 

 the marine plants, in the numner of several Herons, to startle their prey, crayfish, 

 minnows, sirens, etc. It keeps its long bill in the water, and open two or three 

 indies at the tip, the latter in contact with the mud, at about the depth of the 

 object sought. In this position it walks slowly about, raking the bottom with first 

 one foot, then the other, as each is moved forward to make a step, and just before 

 its weiglit is thrown upon it. Many of the animals on Avhich the bird feeds are 

 startled from their coverts by this raking, and in their fright take shelter within the 

 open bill of their enemy. 



Tliis Ibis feeds both in fresh and in salt water. Mr. Moore counted, on the 28th 

 of February, 114 of this species feeding in one flock in a very shallow and muddy 

 pond, where they were apparently finding many sirens. 



Dr. IJerlandier states that the Wood Ibis inhabits the coast of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and is found ten leagues from it about the lakes, and especially in low and 

 marshy places. It occurs in flocks, and is found in summer — in the months of 

 tlune, July, and August — in the vicinity of Matamoras. It is in appearance a very 

 stupid bird, and is known as the Tagarates. 



The eggs of this species are of a uniform dull white color, and vary in shape 

 from a rounded oval to a nearly exact oval shape ; one end is always a little more 

 obtuse than the other. They average about 2.50 inches in length by 2 inches in 

 breadth. One from Para, collected by John E. Warren, Esq., of Troy, measures 2.78 

 inches in length by 1.85 in breadth, which does not correspond with Dr. Bryant's 

 measurements. 



Family IBIDID/E. — The Ibises. 



Ibidince, Reichenb. Haiidb. 1851, pp. xiii, xiv (part ; includes Tantahts, Numeniun, and Pelidna I) 



Ibldinae, BoxAi'. Coiisp. 11. 1857, 150. 



Ibididcc, RiDow., Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. IV. no. 1, Feb. 5, 1878, 221. 



Char. Wading birds of medium to rather large size, the bill much elongated, 

 attenuated, more or less, toward the end, and bent downward, more or less de- 

 cidedly, in sickle-fashion, like that of the Curlews {Nwrnenius). Nostrils sub-basal, 

 ktero-superior, with more or less of a membrane above and behind ; nasal fossa; 

 continued forward to the very extremity of the maxilla in the form of a deep, 

 narrow, continuous groove. Hallux almost incumbent ; claws slender, projecting 

 far beyond the ends of the toes. 



The true Ibises form an eminently natural group of wading birds, distinguished 

 from their nearest allies by the above characters. The species are moderately nu- 

 merous (about twenty-six being known), and are dispersed over the warmer regions 

 of the earth — America possessing a larger number than any other country (nine 



