112 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 84. 



mantling' these old nests, pulling- them apart and droppings 

 the sticks down on the ground, or in the water, whichever 

 happens to be underneath, saving any sticks that appeal to 

 them and taking them back to their own nest. I noticed that 

 it took six days for this pair to dismantle fourteen White 

 Ibis nests and three little Blue Heron nests that they had 

 made leave. The worst of it was that one of the White Ibis 

 had baby young in and when they died the Glossies threw 

 them out of the nest. It is barely possible, however, that the 

 pair of White Ibis that had used this nest were killed on their 

 feeding grounds and failed to return, as this is the only in- 

 stance where I ever noted the Glossy dismantling a nest oc- 

 cupied by young. 



The notes of the Glossy Ibis are very hard to explain so 

 that any one would have the least idea how they sounded. 

 The note of the White Ibis is three grunting notes, sometimes 

 uttered distinct, but more often sounding like a continuous 

 note. The Glossy starts off exactly like the White Ibis with 

 a grunting sound and then uttering four distinct notes re- 

 sembling, what to my mind best explains them, the bleating 

 of a young calf or sheep. The Ibis sounds as though there 

 was something in the throat that gives a gutteral sound. I 

 became quite expert in imitating them, so much so that I 

 could many times fool the young, but as for writing it, that is 

 beyond me. This note is usually used in all cases when they ap- 

 proach the nest and when they are leaving and just as they take 

 wing. They have another series of notes they use when cares- 

 sing each other and when caressing the young and the female 

 has a very soft note, sort of cooing, that she uses when feeding- 

 the young when they are only a few days old. The young 

 themselves never appear to make any notes except when try- 

 ing to avoid a person, when they utter a squawking note of 

 fear. The two nests in question were placed quite close to 

 each other and as the young arrived at the age of two weeks 

 and more they could always recognize their parents' notes 

 even before I could distinguish them. I always knew which 

 old birds were approaching by the actions of the young bird=; 



