THE 



WILSON BULLETIN 



NO. 84. 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY 



VOL. XXV SEPTEMBER, 1913. NO. 3 



OLD SERIES VOL. XXV. NEW^ SERIES VOL XX 



HOME LIFE OF THE GLOSSY IBIS {Plegadis autumn- 



olis Linn.). 



BY OSCAR E. BAYNARD. 



Early in May of 1909 was the first time that I ever saw a 

 Glossy Ibis alive. Mere words cannot begin to describe the 

 feelings I experienced as I saw this beautiful graceful bird 

 spring up from her nest fifteen feet up in a willow tree and take 

 wing, the bright sun glistening on her beautiful irridescent 

 plumage was a sight that I will always remember with joy. 

 Examination showed that she was incubating three beautiful 

 dull greenish-blue colored eggs. These I collected. On ar- 

 riving home I immediately got out all my bird books and began 

 reading up on this bird. As everyone is aware this was not 

 much of a job because information on either of the Glossy Ibises 

 is conspicious by its meagerness. A few days later I visited 

 the island again and found another nest of this bird with the 

 old one dying on her nest. I took her home along with this set 

 and made a good skin of her. I then decided I had collected 

 a specimen of the White Faced Glossy Ibis instead of the 

 Glossy Ibis, due to the white skin at the base of the bill, this 

 I will explain more fully later. 



In studying up what has been written of the Glossy Ibis 

 I find that this species remained unknown in the United States 

 until 1817 when a specimen was taken in New Jersey and 



% 

 MOV 6 1913 



