68 THE WOOD IBIS. 



Besides the great quantity of fishes that these Ibises destroy, they also 

 devour frogs, young alligators, wood-rats, young rails and grakles, fiddlers 

 and other crabs, as well as snakes and small turtles. They never eat the 

 eggs of the alligator, as has been alleged, although they probably would do 

 so, could they demolish the matted nests of that animal, a task beyond the 

 power of any bird known to me. I never saw one eat any thing which 

 either it or some of its fellows had not killed. Nor will it eat an animal 

 that has been dead for some time, even although it may have been killed by 

 itself. When eating, the clacking of their mandibles may be heard at the 

 distance of several hundred yards. 



When wounded, it is dangerous to approach them, for they bite severely. 

 They may be said to be very tenacious of life. Although usually fat, they 

 are very tough and oily, and therefore are not fit for food. The negroes, 

 however, eat them, having, previous to cooking them, torn off the skin, as 

 they do with Pelicans and Cormorants. My own attempts, I may add, were 

 not crowned with success. Many of the negroes of Louisiana destroy these 

 birds when young for the sake of the oil which their flesh contains, and 

 which they use in greasing machines. 



The French Creoles of that State name them "Grands Flamans," while 

 the Spaniards of East Florida know them by the name of "Gannets." When 

 in the latter country, at St. Augustine, I was induced to make an excursion, 

 to visit a large pond or lake, where I was assured there were Gannets in 

 abundance, which I might shoot off the trees, provided I was careful enough. 

 On asking the appearance of the Gannets, I was told that they were large 

 white birds, with wings black at the end, a long neck, and a large sharp bill. 

 The description so far agreeing with that of the Common Gannet or Solan 

 Goose, I proposed no questions respecting the legs or tail, but went off. 

 Twenty-three miles, reader, I trudged through the woods, and at last came 

 in view of the pond; when, lo! its borders and the trees around it were 

 covered with Wood Ibises. Now, as the good people who gave the informa- 

 tion spoke according to their knowledge, and agreeably to their custom of 

 calling the Ibises Gannets, had I not gone to the pond, I might have written 

 this day that Gannets are found in the interior of the woods in the Floridas, 

 that they alight on trees, &c. which, if once published, would in all proba- 

 bility have gone down to future times through the medium of compilers, and 

 all perhaps without acknowledgment. 



The Wood Ibis takes four years in attaining full maturity, although birds 

 of the second year are now and then found breeding. This is rare, however, 

 for the young birds live in flocks by themselves, until they have attained the 

 age of about three years. They are at first of a dingy brown, each feather 

 edged with paler; the head is covered to the mandibles with short downy 



