IBIDID.E — THE IBISES — EUDOCIMUS. 91 



north, especial!}' on the sea-ooast and near the hirger rivers of tlie West. It is 

 abundant througliont .Alexieo, Central Anieriea, and the northern jKjrtions of .South 

 America. iMi'. ('■ C. Taylor mentions having met with it on the iMaeaonie Eiver in 

 Honduras; and Mr. Salvin speaks of having seen some among the bays on the coast. 

 He afterward mentions having met with it fre(piently on the sea-coast of (iuatemala, 

 among the creeks emptying into the Pacific. ^Mr. Dresser found it abundant in 

 Northeastern ]\Iexico, near Matamoras. It frequented the town lagoon, where on 

 several occasions he shot four or five before breakfast. He always ate them, and 

 found them excellent — indeed, far superior to the real Curlew, by whose name it 

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



Mr. Giraud mentions two instances wherein this bird has been met with on the 

 shores of Long Island. One was shot at Kaynor South, in the summer of 1836 ; the 

 other at Moriches, in March, 1843. A single instance only is reported of its having 

 been detected farther north. Mr. Allen met with a few examjjles of this species in 

 the Valley of Great Salt Lake, in September, and was informed that it is a common 

 summer resident in that neighborhood. 



Mr. Audubon found it breeding in immense numbers on a small sandy island 

 about six miles from CapjC Sable in Florida. It was in conrpany with the Brown 

 Pelican, four or five species of Herons, both the Gallinules, and other species. It 

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

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

 The nests of this species measure about fifteen inches in their greatest diameter, and 

 are formed of dry twigs intermixed with fibrous roots and green branches of the 

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

 with leaves of the cane and other plants. This bird is sirpposed to breed only once 

 in a year, the number of its eggs being three, and they are said to be excellent eat- 

 ing; although 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 opacjue, as is usually the case. 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 

 by regurgitation. They leave the nest when about three weeks old, and stand either 

 on the ground or among the 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 be seen searching for food separately. The White Ibis, 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 displeasure by uttering sounds which may be imitated liy the sj'llables 

 croo-rroo-rron, and are not unlike the Jiotes of the AVhite-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 j^eriods, 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 



