60 



TURNSTONE. 



pression of the wish; there are birds to lend wings to leaden 

 hours, even during the sun's reign of terror at Fort Yuma. A 

 long white line, dimly seen at first in the distance, issues out of the 

 gray-green woods. It is a troop of Wood Ibises, leaving their 

 heated covert for what seems the still less endurable glare of day, 

 yet reckoning well, for they have before enjoyed the cooler currents 

 of the upper air, unheated by reflection from the parched and 

 shrinking sands. They come nearer, rising higher as they come, 

 till they are directly overhead, in the bright blue. Flapping 

 heavily until they had cleared all obstacles, then mounting faster, 

 with strong, regular beats of their broad wings, now they sail in 

 circles, with wide-spread, motionless pinions, supported as if by 

 magic. A score or more cross each other's paths in interminable 

 spirals, their snowy bodies tipped at the wing-points with jetty 

 black, clear cut against the sky ; they become specks in the air, 

 and finally pass from view. I am not aware that the Ibises circle 

 about as I have described at particular hours of the day, but I 

 generally saw them so occupied in the forenoon. The habit is 

 constant with them, and quite characteristic. They are often 

 joined by numbers of Turkey Buzzards — birds that have the same 

 custom. Those familiar with the aerial gyrations of these birds, 

 when, away from their loathsome feasts, they career high over- 

 head, will have, by adding to the Buzzard's movements the beauty 

 of plumage that the Ibises possess, a good idea of the pleasing 

 appearance of the latter. Audubon says that their evolutions are 

 performed when digestion is going on, and continued until they 

 again feel the cravings of hunger. He has so well described their 

 mode of feeding, that I can not do better than quote his paragraph. 

 1 The Wood Ibis,' he says, ' feeds entirely upon fish and aquatic 

 reptiles, of which it destroys an enormous quantity, in fact more 

 than it eats ; for if they have been killing fish for half an hour, 

 and gorged themselves, they suffer the rest to lie on the water un- 

 touched, to become food for alligators, Crows, and Vultures. To 

 procure its food, the Wood Ibis walks through shallow, muddy 

 lakes, or bayous, in numbers. As soon as they have discovered 

 a place abounding in fish, they dance, as it were, all through it, 

 until the water becomes thick with the mud stirred from the bottom 

 with their feet. The fishes, on rising to the surface, are instantly 

 struck by the beak of the Ibises, and on being deprived of life 

 they turn over and so remain. In the course of ten or fifteen 

 minutes, hundreds of fishes, frogs, young alligators, and water- 

 snakes cover the surface, and the birds greedily swallow them 

 until they are completely gorged, after which they walk to the 

 nearest margins, place themselves in long rows, with their breasts 

 all turned toward the sun, in the manner of Pelicans and Vultures, 

 and thus remain for an hour or so.' 



" The great abundance of the Wood Ibis on the Colorado, 

 especially the lower portions of the river, as at Fort Yuma, has 

 not been generally recognized until of late years. It is probably 

 as numerous there as anywhere in the United States, though I 

 have never seen flocks ' composed of several thousands,' such as 

 Audubon speaks of. Oftenest the numbers together would fall 

 short of one hundred, and single birds were very frequently seen 

 flapping overhead or wading in the shallow pools. But they are 

 like all of their great tribe, gregarious birds, spending most of their 

 time in each other's society. I doubt that any are found on the 

 Colorado higher than Fort Mojave. They probably occur along 

 the greater part of the Gila, but how far up I am unable to say. I 

 have not noticed them in Arizona except on these two rivers. 

 Wherever found in the Territory, they are permanent residents, as 

 elsewhere in most parts of the United States. In the eastern 

 province they reach to the Carolinas. They are said to ascend the 

 Mississippi to the Ohio ; but the swampy tracts and bayous of 

 Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida are, with the lagoons 

 of the lower Colorado, their favorite homes. I do not know of 

 them in California, except as along the river just named. 



" The carriage of the Wood Ibis is firm and sedate, almost 

 stately ; each leg is slowly lifted, and planted with deliberate pre- 



cision, before the other is moved, when the birds walk unsuspicious 

 of danger. I never saw one run rapidly, since on all the occasions 

 when I have been the cause of alarm, the bird took wing directly. 

 It springs powerfully from the ground, bending low to gather 

 strength, and for a little distance flaps hurriedly with dangling 

 legs, as if it was much exertion to lift so heavy a body. But fairly 

 on wing, clear of all obstacles, the flight is firm, strong, and direct, 

 performed with continuous, moderately rapid beats of the wing, 

 except when the birds are sailing in circles as above noted. When 

 proceeding in a straight line the feet are stretched horizontally 

 backward, but the head is not drawn closely in upon the breast, as 

 is the case with Herons, so that the bird presents what may be 

 called a top-heavy appearance, increased by the thick large bill. 



" The eggs of the Wood Ibis are like Heron's, in being nearly 

 ellipsoidal, but differ from these, as well as from those of the Bay 

 Ibis, in color, which is uniform dull white, without markings. The 

 shell is rather rough to the touch, with a coating of softish, flaky, 

 calcareous substance. A specimen that I measured was exactly 

 two inches and three-quarters in length by one and three-quarters 

 in breadth. Two or three are said to be a nest-complement. Ac- 

 cording to Audubon, the young are entirely dusky-gray, with 

 brownish-black wings and bill. The head is at first covered, but 

 becomes partially bare after the first molt. Four years are said 

 to be required for the bird to attain its full plumage, though it may 

 breed at two or three years of age, and is largely white or whitish 

 after the first molt. The head and upper part of the neck of the 

 adult are wholly bare, and of a livid bluish color, tinged with yel- 

 lowish on the forehead. The bill is yellowish ; the legs blue, 

 becoming blackish on the toes, and tinged with yellow on the webs. 

 The female is considerably smaller than the male." 



PLATE XLV. 



The Turnstone. (Strefisilas interpres.) 

 Fig. i. 



This peculiar and beautifully variegated species of marine bird 

 is to be met with on the sea-coasts of nearly all countries. It is 

 also, at times, to be seen in the interior. Usually, it appears 

 alone, or in parties of two or three, on the beach, or on the shores 

 of sandy rivers that empty into the ocean, near their outlets. 

 Occasionally, it is found in company with some of the Sandpipers, 

 and other beach birds. It arrives in the Middle and Eastern 

 States about April, remaining until June, very soon after which 

 they are seen at their breeding-quarters, on the shores of Hudson's 

 Bay, and along the desolated strand of the Arctic Sea. "This 

 is," says Dr. Brewer, " the only species of Turnstone known, and 

 it is apparently distributed over the whole world. . . . On the 

 Scotch and English coasts they arrive in small flocks about the 

 beginning of August, and as the season advances, congregate into 

 larger assemblies ; the greater proportion of these are still in their 

 young dress, and it is not until the ensuing spring that this is com- 

 pletely changed. In this state they have been frequently described 

 as a second species. Early in spring, a few straggling birds, in 

 perfect breeding plumage, may be observed on most of our shores, 

 which have either been left at the general migration, or remain 

 during the year in a state of barrenness. It is then that the finest 

 specimens for stuffing are obtained." 



It is not often that two specimens of this species are found whose 

 plumage and markings are alike in every particular. As it is 

 represented on the plate, it will, we think, be recognized at once 

 by any one who has ever seen the bird. They are naturally of a 

 restless and active disposition, running rapidly, with wings low- 

 ered, but usually only for a short distance, pausing from time to 

 time, for a few moments, in the course of their swift career; their 

 flight is easy, and accompanied by a variety of graceful evolutions. 



