76 Zoologica: N. Y. Zoological Society. [I; 3 



to lunge at a fly or other insect — its body swinging from side to 

 side, in the characteristic manner of this bird. When the bird 

 stands head on, its slim head and neck vanish from view, and if 

 one's eyes are removed for an instant it is very difficult to redis- 

 cover the bird. Its flight is buoyant and heron-like. 



The only sound we heard from these wild birds was a sweet 

 but penetrating, high double-note, uttered frequently in early 

 morning. Both notes are equal, each lasting about a second, and 

 the final one is a half-tone higher, thus closely resembling the 

 call-note of Tapera. The pitch is the second G and G# above 

 middle G on the piano. 



Sun-bitterns were great pets with the Indians, and we saw 

 several which were perfectly tame, enjoying full liberty, one of 

 which chose to perch most of the time on the shoulder of its 

 mistress. We secured this bird before we left, and it is still 

 living in perfect health in the New York Zoological Park. 



Psophia crepitans Linn. Common Trumpeter. 



We heard the curious, muffled, rhythmic, rumblings — one 

 certainly cannot call them trumpetings — of these birds several 

 times before we caught sight of them. This was an excellent 

 view of three individuals which slowly crossed the track ahead 

 of us and, flying heavily across a ten-foot pool of water, stalked 

 into the impenetrable underbrush beyond. One individual, be- 

 fore it disappeared, leaped upward and seized a berry or insect 

 from a leaf overhead. 



Order ARDEIFORMES. 



Eudocimus ruber (Linn.). Scarlet Ibis. 



These birds were seen only on the Caiio San Juan, from the 

 very mouth up to a distance of several miles inland. Not a bird 

 was visible at high tide but with the uncovering of the mud- 

 flats, the scarlet ibises began to appear singly and in small flocks. 

 They were, without doubt, the most abundant bird in all the man- 

 grove region into which we penetrated. In every flock of thirty 

 or forty, some six or eight would be birds in the brown plumage 

 of immaturity. 



On the evening of March 26th a flock of not less than five 

 hundred birds swung back and forth across the caiio ahead of 

 us, in a series of graceful evolutions before rising and drifting 

 out of sight over the dark green mangroves, like a great cloud of 

 living flame. They were quite wary and when feeding did not 

 allow one to approach within gun-shot before flying. The flocks 



