270 GAME BIEDS OF CALIFORNIA 



face of closed wing, and flight feathers, dusky, with green and steel blue 

 reflections, but bronze and purple iridescence of adults lacking. Second-year 

 (or winter?) plumage: Like Juvenal in body plumage (that is, with grayish 

 brown body and white-streaked head), but with lower back, wings and tail, 

 more as in adult, differing only in lesser amount of rich chestnut, and purplish 

 pink reflections. Natal plumage: "Uniform blackish . . . bill whitish, with 

 dusky base" (Eidgway, 1900, p. 124). 



Marks for field identification — Curlew-like profile, bright iridescent chest- 

 nut-colored plumage appearing black at a distance (whence the name Black 

 Curlew), down-curved curlew-like bill about five inches in length (fig. 44), 

 and long legs. Ply in orderly diagonal lines, each bird with legs and neck 

 extended (pi. 8). 



Voice — A hoarse ka-onk, several times repeated (Grinnell, MS) ; a jerky, 

 squawking cry of three syllables, rapidly repeated when disturbed (Shields, 

 1894, p. 108); a nasal ooh-ick-ooh-ick (Chapman, 1908, p. 292). 



Nest — In colonies in marshes, compactly built of dry tules, placed on a 

 foundation of bent-over growing tules a foot or more above the water. 



Eggs — 3 to 4, rarely 5, elongate ovate and rather pointed, measuring in 

 inches, 1.81 to 2.16 by 1.40 to 1.46 (in millimeters, 46.0 to 55.0 by 35.5 to 37.0), 

 and averaging 2.03 by 1.42 (51.5 by 36.0) (forty-six eggs in TJ. S. National 

 Museum) ; color dark blue fading to lighter blue during incubation. 



General distribution — Temperate and tropical America from southern 

 Oregon, Arizona, Texas, and Florida south through Mexico; also in southern 

 South America; migratory in the northern portion of its range; casual north 

 to British Columbia, Wyoming, and Nebraska (A. O. U. Check -list, 1910, p. 92). 



Distribution in California — Common summer visitant interiorly to south- 

 ern and central portions of the state. Breeds in suitable swampy areas. Some 

 northern record stations are: Lower Klamath Lake, Siskiyou County (H. C. 

 Bryant, 1914e, p. 232); Sutter County (Belding, 1879, p. 443); Owens Valley 

 (A. K. Tisher, 1893o, p. 19) ; casual on Farallon Islands (W. E. Bryant, 1888, 

 p. 42). Some breeding stations are: Escondido, San Diego County (Sharp, 

 1907, p. 91) ; San Jacinto Lake, Riverside County (Willett and Jay, 1911, p. 

 159); Los Banos, Merced County (Mailliard coll.; H. C. Bryant, MS). Winters 

 occasionally in the southern coastal district, and in vicinity of Los Banos 

 (Mus. Vert. Zool.) and Stockton (Belding, MS). 



Like the Cinnamon Teal, the White-faced Glossy Ibis furnishes a 

 good example of discontinuous or interrupted distribution. Although 

 found in both North and South America there is a great extent of 

 country in Central and northern South America where it is not found. 

 The two ranges are separated by 22° of longitude and 30° of latitude 

 and there is but one record of the occurrence of even a straggler in 

 this intervening territory (Cooke, 1913, pp. 19-21). 



In North America the White-faced Glossy Ibis is to be found 

 from central Mexico north to Louisiana, Utah and Oregon, and occa- 

 sionally as far north as Minnesota, Wyoming, Idaho and southern 

 British Columbia. Its winter and summer ranges overlap to some 

 extent, but most birds of the species winter south of the United 

 States. There are records of its occurrence in winter at Tombstone, 

 Arizona, and in San Diego, Los Angeles, Merced and San Joaquin 

 counties, California. 



