The White-faced Glossy Ibis 



Taken 



Laguna Blanca Photo by the Author 



TUT-ANKH-AMEN MOTIFS 



vision of the elder day; 

 whereas all modernity is 

 one gibbering sparrow! 

 I stopped the motor in- 

 stantly; and, reassured, 

 the Ibises settled back 

 into the wet grass, and 

 resumed immediately 

 their search for food. 

 Here, again, they seemed 

 the very embodiments 

 of grace, as they turned 

 and twisted, or probed 

 for insects in the soft 

 mud, or reared their sin- 

 uous necks for a moment 

 of inspection. And what 

 marvels of color! reds 

 and greens and purples, 

 which resolve into black 

 withd istance. "More, 

 anon, you beauties; I'll 

 track you to your haunts ! 

 Just now my plates are 

 gone; the wind is blow- 

 ing a gale ; and the motor 

 is urging homeward. I 

 will leave you to your 

 wayside fare." 



Ah, well, I have seen 

 them since, hundreds of 

 them — not thousands, as 

 formerly — in migrations, 

 or ranging over their 

 characteristic haunts in 

 the flooded sections of 

 Los Bahos. The birds 

 breed annually some- 

 where within a radius 

 of twenty miles of the 

 town of Dos Palos; but 

 as the flood conditions 



IQ28 



