iDiniDJ-: — TiiK iijisi;h — kudcjcimus. 



91 



iKirtli, especially dii tho sea-ooaHt iiinl why tin' liir>,'fr rivcns of tin- West. It is 

 jiliiiiulaiit throuKlii'iit .Mexico, (Jciitml Aiuericii, and tlie iiortheni portioiiM of .South 

 America. Mi'. '»■ *'• Tiiylor iiiciitioiiH hiiviiig met with it on the Maeaonie Kiver in 

 lldiidiiras; and .Mr. Salvin siiraks of having,' seen soini' anionj; the i)ays on the coast, 

 lit' afterward mentions liavinj,' met with it frc(inently on tiit- sea-coast of (i\iatemala, 

 amonff tho creeks emptying into tin- Paidtic. Mr. Dresser found it ainindant-in 

 Northeastern Mi'xico. near Matanioras. It fretiiicnted (hr town la^,'oon, wiiere on 

 several occasions he sliot four or live before breakfast. lie always ate them, and 

 found them excellent — inth-ed, far superior to the real Curlew, by who.se nanu' it 

 was known. In Florida it goes by the name of tiie "Spanish Curlew." 



iMr. (tiraud mentions two instances wherein this bird has been met with on tho 

 shores of Long Island. One was shot at IJaynor South, in the summer of iJS.'JCi; the 

 otiier at Moriclies, in March, l.S4.'t. A single in.stanco only is repm-ted of its liaving 

 lieen deteeteil farther north. Mr. Allen met with a few examples of this species in 

 tile Valley of (Ireat Salt Lake, in Seiitcndjcr, and was informed that it is a common 

 summer resident in that neighborhood. 



Mr. Audubon found it breeding in iinn\ense nund)ers on a snudl sandy island 

 al)o>it six miles from Cape Sable in Florida. It was in company with the Urown 

 i'elican, four or five species of Herons, both the (Jallinules, and other species. It 

 was breeding there in thousaiuls ; and on every bush, (cactus, or tree on the island he 

 found their nests, so that on one wild plum tri'e he counted forty-seven of them. 

 The nests of this species measure about fifteen inches in their greatest dianu'ter, and 

 are fornu'd of dry twigs intermixed with fii)rous roots and green branches of the 

 trees growing on tho island. The interior of each nest is nearly flat, and is finished 

 with leaves of the cane and other ])lants. This bird is suj)posed to breed only once 

 ill a year, the nund)er of its eggs being three, and they are said to bt; excellent eat- 

 ing; althougli they do not look inviting after having been boiled, since the white 

 resembles a livid-colored jelly, and the yolk is of a reddish orange, the former being 

 wonderfully transparent, and not opacpie, as is usually the ease. The eggs are usually 

 deposited after the 10th of April, and incubation has become pretty general by the 

 1st of May. The young are, at first, covered by a thick dark gray down, and are fed 

 l)y regurgitation. They leave the nest when about three weeks old, and stand either 

 on the ground or anu)ng tlu; branches, where they are fed by the parents with snakes, 

 small fiddler crabs, and crayfish. The young bird is fully five weeks old before it is 

 able to fly. As soon as it can provide for itself, the parents leave it, and the various 

 individuals may then bo seen searching for food separately. The White Ibi.s, when 

 it is nesting, is very gentle and unwary, unless it has been much disturbed, and will 

 allow itself to be touched while on the nest. The female is silent, but the male 

 manifests its disideasuve by uttering sounds Avhich may be imitated by the syllables 

 croo-rroo-rt'oo, and are not unlike the notes of the White-headed Pigeon. Even the 

 report of a gun does not disturb it at this season, though at other times it is ex- 

 tremely shy and vigilant. While breeding it is said to go to a great distance in 

 search of food for its young, flying in flocks of several hundreds. These excursions 

 take place at periods, determined by the decline of the tides, when all the birds that 

 are not sitting go off twenty or thirty miles to mud-flats, where they collect abundance 

 of food, and return as soon as the tide has begun to rise ; this is done by night as 

 well as by day. They do not go singly, however, for on such occasions the entire flock 

 seemed to rise, as if by common consent, from their breeding-ground, and then to form 

 themselves into long lines, and soon disappear. Soon after the turn of the tide they 

 might be seen returning in the same order, and on these occasions they were usually 



