460 WHITE IBIS. 



of colour. The length and form of the bill, the size, confor- 

 mation, as well as colour of the legs, the general length and 

 breadth, and even the steel-blue on the four outer quill-feathers, 

 are exactly alike in both. These suggestions, however, are 

 not made with any certainty of its being the same, but as cir- 

 cumstances which may lead to a more precise examination of 

 the subject hereafter. 



I found this species pretty numerous on the borders of Lake 

 Pontchartrain, near New Orleans, in the month of June, and 

 also observed the Indians sitting in market with strings of 

 them for sale. I met with them again on the low keys or 

 islands off the peninsula of Florida. Mr Bartram observes 

 that '' they fly in large flocks or squadrons, evening and 

 morning, to and from their feeding places or roosts, and are 

 usually called Spanish curlews. They feed chiefly on crayfish, 

 whose cells they probe, and, with their strong pinching bills, 

 drag them out." The low islands above mentioned abound 

 with these creatures and small crabs, the ground in some 

 places seeming alive with them, so that the rattling of their 

 shells against one another was incessant. My venerable friend, 

 in his observations on these birds, adds, " It is a pleasing sight, 

 at times of high winds and heavy thunderstorms, to observe 

 the numerous squadrons of these Spanish curlews driving to 

 and fro, turning and tacking about high up in the air, when, by 

 their various evolutions in the different and opposite currents 

 of the wind, high in the clouds, their silvery white plumage 

 gleams and sparkles like the brightest crystal, reflecting the 

 sunbeams that dart upon them between the dark clouds." 



The white ibis is twenty-three inches long, and thirty-seven 

 inches in extent ; bill formed exactly like that of the scarlet 

 species, of a pale red, blackish towards the point ; face a red- 

 dish flesh colour, and finely wrinkled ; irides, whitish ; whole 

 plumage pure white, except about four inches of the tips of the 

 four outer quill-feathers, which are of a deep and glossy steel- 

 blue ; legs and feet pale red, webbed to the first joint. 



These birds I frequently observed standing on the dead 



