Cormorants, Pelicans, Ibises 
Several water birds frequenting the South Atlantic coast may be brief 
ly mentioned as they may occasionally be séen in salt marshes. The double- 
rested cormorant, "shag", or "nigger goose", is a glossy, greenish black 
bird, somewhat smaller than the Canada goose, end rather heavy in flight. 
The birds characteristically fly in single file. They spend much time 
perched, for purposes of drying end preening, and when quiet suggest so 
many large black bottles. They are expert fishers and can catch almost 
enything they want. In some places they are destructive, but on the whole 
consume more of the less valuable fishes than game and commercial species. 
The double-crested cormofant winters from Virginia (sometimes from New 
Jersey) southward, but a related race is resident all the year in Florida. 
Almost everyone has read about pelicans, or seen pictures of them, 
so that recognition of the birds in life will not be difficult. The brown 
pelican winters on the Florida coast and may be seen in summer as far 
north as South Carolina. These birds characteristically fly in files, 
alternately Tlapping and gliding. Fishing is an individual performance, 
and the birds plunge--almost, it would seem, awkwardly fall--into the 
water when a fish is spied near the surface. Brow pelicans subsist very 
largely on menhaden, thread herring, and other fishes not used for human 
food. Of the food fishes they probably take more mullets than any other 
kind, 
The white ibis (24 to 27 inches long) an almost entirely white 
bird but with black wing tips, and a long, down-curved, reddish bill, 
breeds from South Carolina, and winters from Floride, south. It is usual- 
ly seen in flocks and on account of the curved bill is often called cur= 
lew, a term preceded by such modifiers as wnite or Spanish. The wood 
ibis, a much larger bird (35 to 37 inches long), may be seen, both winter 
and summer, from South Carolina southward. This bird also is mostly white, 
but the flight feathers and tail are dark and the head and upper neck are 
unfeathered and scaly. The ibises differ from hsrons in flying with the 
neck as well as the legs stretched out. 
Warblers and Swallows 
Two small land birds are likely to be common enough in winter near 
or in southern salt marshes to attract attention. One, the myrtle war- 
bler, a little less than 6 inches long, is chiefly bluish gray above and 
waite below, streaked with black, and with the crown, the rump, and a 
spot. on each side of the breast, yellow. These attractive little birds 
winter regularly from New Jersey (casually from New England) south, and 
Sometimes swarm near the coast from the Carolinas southwerd. They fre- 
quently utter a characteristic and rather loud tchip. The myrtle war- 
bler feeds to a considerable extent on the fruits of the bayberry or wax 
myrtle, a habit alluded to in the standard vernacular name. This is an 
unusual habit for one of the warblers, a highly insectivorous group of 
birds, but it enables the myrtle warbler to winter farther north than 
any OL its retliatives: 
A remark to the same purport is in order relative to the tree 
swallow, and the berry-eating habit seems even more remarkable in its 
toe 
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