1BIDIWE — THE IBISES — EUDOCIMUS. 
91 
north, especially on the sea-coast and near the larger rivers of the West. It is 
abundant throughout Mexico, Central America, and the northern portions of South 
America. Mr. G. C. Taylor mentions having met with it on the Macaome River in 
Honduras ; and Mr. Salvin speaks of having seen some among the bays on the coast. 
He afterward mentions having met with it frequently on the sea-coast of Guatemala, 
among the creeks emptying into the Pacific. Mr. Dresser found it abundant in 
Northeastern Mexico, near Matamoras. It frequented the town lagoon, where on 
several occasions he shot four or five before breakfast. He always ate them, and 
found them excellent — indeed, far superior to the real Curlew, by whose name it 
was known. In Florida it goes by the name of the “ Spanish Curlew.” 
Mr. Giraud mentions two instances wherein this bird lias been met with on the 
shores of Long Island. One was shot at Raynor South, in the summer of 1836 ; the 
other at Moriches, in March, 1843. A single instance only is reported of its having 
been detected farther north. Mr. Allen met with a few examples of this species in 
the Valley of Great Salt Lake, in September, and was informed that it is a common 
summer resident in that neighborhood. 
Mr. Audubon found it breeding in immense numbers on a small sandy island 
about six miles from Cape Sable in Florida. It was in company with the Brown 
Pelican, four or five species of Herons, both the Gallinules, and other species. It 
was breeding there in thousands ; and on every bush, cactus, or tree on the island he 
found their nests, so that on one wild plum tree he counted forty-seven of them. 
The nests of this species measure about fifteen inches in their greatest diameter, and 
are formed of dry twigs intermixed with fibrous roots and green branches of the 
trees growing on the island. The interior of each nest is nearly fiat, and is finished 
with leaves of the cane and other plants. This bird is supposed to breed only once 
in a year, the number of its eggs being three, and they are said to be excellent eat- 
ing ; although they do not look inviting after having been boiled, since the white 
resembles a livid-colored jelly, and the yolk is of a reddish orange, the former being 
wonderfully transparent, and not opaque, as is usually the case. The eggs are usually 
deposited after the 10th of April, and incubation has become pretty general by the 
1st of May. The young are, at first, covered by a thick dark gray down, and are fed 
by regurgitation. They leave the nest when about three weeks old, and stand either 
on the ground or among the branches, where they are fed by the parents with snakes, 
small fiddler crabs, and crayfish. The young bird is fully five weeks old before it is 
able to fly. As soon as it can provide for itself, the parents leave it, and the various 
individuals may then be seen searching for food separately. The White Ibis, when 
it is nesting, is very gentle and unwary, unless it has been much disturbed, and will 
allow itself to be touched while on the nest. The female is silent, but the male 
manifests its displeasure by uttering sounds which may be imitated by the syllables 
croo-croo-croo, and are not unlike the notes of the White-headed Pigeon. Even the 
report of a gun does not disturb it at this season, though at other times it is ex- 
tremely shy and vigilant. While breeding it is said to go to a great distance in 
search of food for its young, flying in flocks of several hundreds. These excursions 
take place at periods, determined by the decline of the tides, when ail the birds that 
are not sitting go off twenty or thirty miles to mud-flats, where they collect abundance 
of food, and return as soon as the tide has begun to rise ; this is done by night as 
well as by day. They do not go singly, however, for on such occasions the entire flock 
seemed to rise, as if by common consent, from their breeding-ground, and then to form 
themselves into long lines, and soon disappear. Soon after the turn of the tide they 
might be seen returning in the same order, and on these occasions they were usually 
