104 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Nest, on dry, high ground, near the beach, a mixture of grass, down and 

 feathers. 



Eggs, two to five, dull white, stained with brown, shell rough. 



Swans are seen nearly every spring and fall at one or other .of the 

 shooting stations in western Ontario, but the points of specific dis- 

 tinction are so inconspicuous that unless the birds are secured, it is 

 difficult to tell to which species they belong. Dr. Garnier reports 

 having taken one at Mitchell's Bay. There was one in the collection 

 sent from Toronto to Paris in 1867, and I have seen two which were 

 killed at Long Point, in Lake Erie. 



The highway of this species from north to south is evidently by 

 the Mississippi Valley, where it is quite common during the period of 

 migration, those we see here being merely stragglers off the route. 



The history of this swan is not so well known as that of the other. 

 Nelson mentions one specimen with its eggs having been secured at 

 Port Yukon, which renders it an Alaskan species, though there is no 

 further evidence of its presence in the territory. The lack of obser- 

 vations may be owing to the fact that the interior of Alaska remains 

 almost unexplored, so far as its summer birds are concerned. Hearne 

 speaks of both species breeding on the islands in the lakes to the 

 north-west of Hudson's Bay, and Sir John Richardson gives the 

 Trumpeter a breeding range of from 61° north to well within the 

 Arctic circle. 



Order HBEODIONES. Herons, Storks, Ibises, etc. 



Suborder IBIDES. Spoonbills and Ibises. 



Family IBIDID^. Ibises. 



Genus PLEGADIS Kaup. 



PLEGADIS AUTUMNALIS (Hasselq.). 



69. Glossy Ibis. (186) 



Plumage, rich dark chestnut, changing to glossy dark green, with purplish 

 reflections on the head, wings and elsewhere; bill, dark. Young: — Similar, 

 much duller, or grayish brown, especially on the head and neck, which are 

 white streaked. Claws, slender, nearly straight; head, bare only about the 

 eyes and between the forks of the jaw. Length, about 2 feet; wing, 10-11; 

 tail, 4 ; bill, 4^ ; tarsus, 3 J ; middle toe and claw, 3. 



Hab. — Northern Old World, West Indies, and eastern United States. Only 

 locally abundant, and of irregular distribution in America. 



