66 THE WOOD IBIS. 



Some old male has long marked you; whether it has been with eye or with 

 ear, no matter. The first stick your foot cracks, his hoarse voice sounds the 

 alarm. Off they all go, battering down the bending canes with their power- 

 ful pinions, and breaking the smaller twigs of the trees, as they force a pass- 

 age for themselves. 



Talk to me of the stupidity of birds, of the dulness of the Wood Ibis ! say 

 it is fearless, easily approached, and easily shot. I listen, but it is merely 

 through courtesy; for I have so repeatedly watched its movements, in all 

 kinds of circumstances, that I am quite convinced we have not in the United 

 States a more shy, wary, and vigilant bird than the Wood Ibis. In the 

 course of two years spent, I may say, among them, for I saw some when- 

 ever I pleased during that period, I never succeeded in surprising one, not 

 even under night, when they were roosting on trees at a height of nearly a 

 hundred feet, and sometimes rendered farther secure by being over extensive 

 swamps. 



My Journal informs me, that, one autumn while residing near Bayou 

 Sara, being intent on procuring eight or ten of these birds, to skin for my 

 learned and kind friend the Prince of Musignano, I took with me two 

 servants, who were first-rate woodsmen, and capital hands at the rifle, and 

 that notwithstanding our meeting with many hundreds of Wood Ibises, it 

 took us three days to shoot fifteen, which were for the most part killed on 

 wing with rifle-balls, at a distance of about a hundred yards. On that occa- 

 sion we discovered that a flock roosted regularly over a large corn-field 

 covered with huge girted trees, the tops of which were almost all decayed. 

 We stationed ourselves apart in the field, concealed among the tall ripened 

 corn, and in silence awaited the arrival of the birds. After the sun had dis- 

 appeared, the broad front of a great flock of Ibises was observed advancing 

 towards us. They soon alighted in great numbers on the large branches of 

 the dead trees; but whenever one of the branches gave way under their 

 weight, all at once rose in the air, flew about several times, and alighted 

 again. One of my companions, having a good opportunity, fired, and brought 

 two down with a single bullet; but here the sport w T as ended. In five 

 minutes after, not an Ibis was within a mile of the place, nor did any return 

 to roost there for more than a month. When on the margin of a lake, or 

 even in the centre of it — for all the lakes they frequent are exceedingly 

 shallow — the first glimpse they have of a man induces them to exert all their 

 vigilance; and should he after this advance a few steps, the birds fly off. 



The name of "Wood Ibis" given to this bird, is not more applicable to it 

 than to any other species; for every one with which I am acquainted resorts 

 quite as much to the woods at particular periods. All our species may be 

 found on wet savannahs, on islands surrounded even by the waters of the 



