on the Mating of two Species of Ibis. 291


built nests, laid eggs, and quietly incubated side by side. But one

pair has, or ought to have been through the Divorce Court, for a

female Straw-neck has deserted her husband and “ flown ” away with

the Black-headed White Ibis, who turns out to be of the male sex.


The two nests were constructed on the top of a diminutive

willow tree, on which had been wired a large flat basket-lid. The

Australian Straw-necks were the first to commence, in May, and

their nest was not more than three or four inches high, composed of

sticks and rushes. Two eggs only were laid, and never hatched.


But the second pair—the fly-away couple!—built their nest so

that it touched the other, but topped it by several inches, in fact they

were evidently bent on going one better in every way, for not only

were three eggs laid instead of two, but the three hatched, where

the two did not, proving that the course of true love does not

always run smoothly.


The young hybrid Ibises were, I think, hatched on the 25th

of June ; but alas ! were found dead on the 2nd of July. They

were lying on the edges of the nest, and may have been kicked out

by the other Ibises, or perhaps hauled out by one of the little South

American Whistling Herons (Syrigma cyanocephalum), which are

decidedly meddlesome.


The parents were most diligent in their care of them, both

sexes taking their regular turns in brooding and feeding them, as they

likewise did in incubating the eggs. At a regular hour in the after¬

noon, I have seen the male Indian White Ibis fly to the nest, grunt¬

ing until the female Straw-neck rose up, when he would at once sit

down in her place.


The young Ibises had thick black down on their heads and

necks, where in both parents there is naked black skin. Their bills

were about an inch long, with the very slightest tendency to a curve

towards the tip ; otherwise the bodies were, when examined, too

decomposed to record many details.


In feeding them, the parents regurgitated their food, putting

the tips of their bills into the nestling’s mouths.


As usual, one regrets that one had not given the breeding

birds a place to themselves, in which case, as far as I could foresee,

the young would have been successfully reared.



