2l8 
The Wood Ibis. 
the ArL;eiitine, from which counlry my bird, I believe, came 
it is not a very common Ijird, bein.y- found on the Pampas in 
small flocks, or more frequently in ])airs: but in Florida, U.S.A., 
it is much more numerous, beinj^' found breedin.i;- in the ever- 
glades in large colonies. 
Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, writing of this species in Hirds 
of America, says: — 
" They breed in colonies numbering hundreds and thou- 
sands of pairs, and they always select the tallest trees for 
nesting sites. For several years the Audubon Society has 
been guarding a colony in big cypress swamps of south 
Florida. In the rookery nearly every tree has its nests, 
and some of the cypresses with big spreading limbs have 
six or eight of them. The colony occupies an area of from 
tw^o hundred to five hundred yards wide, and about live 
" miles in length. Here, as in other rookeries. Fish Crows 
are a great scourge. All day a stream of Crows can be 
seen flying from the pine woods to the swamps or returning 
with eggs stuck on the end of their bills. I had an oppor 
" tunity to witness the rather odd manner in W'hich these birds 
" sometimes get their prey. The water was low at this 
" season, and in the pine flats, various ponds, which ordin- 
" arily covered many acres, were partially or entirely dried 
" up. One of these was reduced to a length of about one 
" hundred feet, and with a width perhaps half as great, 
" containing many small fish crowded together. Thirty 
" seven Wood Ibises had taken possession of this pool, and 
" seemed to be scratching the bottom, evidently for the 
" purpose of making the already thick water so muddy that 
" the fish would have to come to the surface. The numerous 
" downward strokes of the bare bony heads fully demon- 
" strated the effectiveness of their enterprise." 
The writer has seen his bird standing on one leg in its 
pond and scratching up the mud with the other when feeding; 
but in this case, of course, its food didn't require any further 
killing, as nuich of it had been already dead some days. It is 
quite gentle and not very shy. Its walk closely resembles that 
of my Adjutants, wdiich are in the same enclosure with it. It 
also shares in their frequent jumping and dancing displays, 
although it takes care to keep just out of reach of their powerful 
