64 



THE WOOD IBIS. 



-^Tantalus loculator, Linn. 

 PLATE CCCLXL— Male. 



This very remarkable bird, and all others of the same genus that are 

 known to occur in the United States, are constant residents in some part of 

 our Southern Districts, although they perform short migrations. A few of 

 them now and then stray as far as the Middle States, but instances of this 

 are rare; and I am not aware that any have been seen farther to the eastward 

 than the southern portions of Maryland, excepting a few individuals of the 

 Glossy and the White Ibises, which have been procured in Pennsylvania, 

 New Jersey, and New York. The Carolinas, Georgia, the Floridas, Ala- 

 bama, Lower Louisiana, including Opellousas, and Mississippi, are the dis- 

 tricts to which they resort by preference, and in which they spend the whole 

 year. With the exception of the Glossy Ibis, which may be looked upon as 

 a bird of the Mexican territories, and which usually appears in the Union 

 singly or in pairs, they all live socially in immense flocks, especially during 

 the breeding season. The country which they inhabit is doubtless the best 

 suited to their habits; the vast and numerous swamps, lagoons, bayous, and 

 submersed savannahs that occur in the lower parts of our Southern States, 

 all abounding with fishes and reptiles; and the temperature of these countries 

 being congenial to their constitutions. 



In treating of the bird now under your notice, Mr. William Bartram 

 says, "This solitary bird does not associate in flocks, but is generally seen 

 alone." This was published by Wilson, and every individual who has 

 since written on the subject, has copied the assertion without probably 

 having any other reason than that he believed the authors of it to state a 

 fact. But the habits of this species are entirely at variance with the above 

 quotation, to which I direct your attention not without a feeling of pain, 

 being assured that Mr. Bartram could have made such a statement only 

 because he had few opportunities of studying the bird in question in its 

 proper haunts. 



The W T ood Ibis is rarely met with single, even after the breeding season, 

 and it is more easy for a person to see a hundred together at any period of 

 the year, than to meet with one by itself. Nay, I have seen flocks com- 

 posed of several thousands, and that there is a natural necessity for their 



