142 



THE OOLOGIST 



DISCOVERY OF THE BREEDING 



OF THE WHITE IBIS IN SOUTH 



CAROLINA 



The White Ibis (Guara alba) was 

 made known to science in the year 

 1731 by Mark Catesby, eminent Eng- 

 lish ornithologist. It is an abundant 

 summer resident on the coast of South 

 Carolina, usually arriving from the 

 South during the second week in April 

 and remaining until the middle of 

 August or later. It is to be met with 

 in the large fresh-water swamps and 

 in the rice plantations which are 

 common to the coast region. They 

 are very seldom seen on the salt 

 marshes, although at times, scattered 

 individuals or small flocks have been 

 noted. 



That a bird so well k:iov/n and so 

 abundant has escaped discovery in its 

 breeding haunts for so long a time 

 Uiay well be wondered at, and the 

 fact that many have attempted to flad 

 a rookery and failed has made it 

 seem all the more curious, as it has 

 been known that they must breed 

 nearby, Trom tlie larje flocks of adult 

 and young birds that appear daring 

 late Ju'y and August on the fesdii3 

 ground,: in the old rice fields. As was 

 mentioned above, many attempts have 

 been nir.ue by various parties, but the 

 leader in the search has been that de- 

 voted ornithologist, Mr. Arthur T. 

 Wayne. Mr. Wayne is the eminent 

 authority on ornithology in South 

 Carolina, and his researches and re- 

 markable work in this line is well 

 known in scientific circles throughout 

 the eastern United States. For the 

 past thirty years he has been untiring 

 in his efforts to further the study of 

 this great branch of science, and his 

 zeal has ben crowned with many not- 

 able discoveries. He has added over 

 thirty species of birds to the fauna of 

 the State, and many of his most re- 

 markable records have been made on 



the plantation on which he lives near 

 Charleston. Among others may be 

 noted the following: He discovered 

 the first nest and eggs of Swainson's 

 Warbler (Helinaia swainsoni) which 

 were known to science in 1885, and in 

 1901, he rediscovered Bachman's 

 Warbler (Vermivora bachmani) in 

 South Carolina. See the "Auk" XVIII 

 1901, 274, 275. 



I have had the privilege of being 

 in company with Mr. Wayne on sev- 

 eral trips during the spring, of the 

 year (1922) and it was on one of these 

 that the question of the White Ibis 

 was brought up. We had been out 

 in a swamp where Mr. Wayne had 

 found a nest of Wayne's Warbler 

 (Deudroica virens wayner) and were 

 talking of the probable nesting 

 grounds of the White Ibis. I told Mr. 

 Wayne that if anyone ever found the 

 birds breeding I hoped it v/ould be him, 

 as he certainly was the one wiio de- 

 served to. About three days later I 

 received a letter from him saying that 

 he had shot two White Ibis and upon 

 dissecting one which proved to be a fe- 

 male, found that she had laid one egg 

 End would have laid another that day. 

 He secured the birds in an old rice 

 field a few miles west of the swamp 

 where he had been a few days previ- 

 ous. After closely watching the flight 

 of other birds he found that they in- 

 variably flew in the- direction of the 

 swamp, mentioned above, and as it 

 was the only suitable place for miles 

 around, he came to the conclusion that 

 it was being used as a rookery this 

 year, although many previous visits 

 there in former years has proved 

 fruitless as far as the White Ibis was 

 concerned. 



In his letter he asked me to come 

 over to his home as soon as possible 

 and we would go out there to the 

 swamp and see if the thing we hoped 

 for was true. Needless to say, I was 

 anxious to go and on May 20th, I 



