IBIDIDJ3 — THE IBISES — PLEGADIS. 
99 
Mr. J. A. Allen met with it in the valley of Great Salt Lake, Utah, in the month 
of September, where it was known as the Black Snipe. He was told that it was a 
rather common summer resident, but this had only been the case within a few years. 
Most of these birds had migrated south before Mr. Allen’s arrival, and he found it 
exceedingly wary, although his party succeeded in procuring seven specimens. 
By Mr. Ridgway it was observed in large numbers at Franklin Lake, in August 
and September ; a few had also been seen at Great Salt Lake in May and June. This 
bird is known to the people of Nevada as the “ Black Curlew,” and also as the 
“Black Snipe.” In its immature form it was first observed at the Humboldt Marshes 
in September. It was one of the most abundant water-birds, occurring in flocks of 
hundreds of individuals. They were generally seen about the margin of the pools, 
standing in a single line along the edge of the water. At Oreana, forty miles farther 
up the river, they were seen passing back and forth over the camp by the river, some 
of the flocks formed with a widely extended front, but more frequently in a Y-shaped 
body. They flew quite low — rarely higher than fifty yards — and quite swiftly. 
At that distance they seemed of a uniform black color, and resembled the Long-billed 
Curlew in size and form. Only once was a flock seen to alight. When approached, 
under cover of the willows, they were found busily engaged in feeding among the 
aquatic plants, in a slough entirely hemmed in by a dense growth of willows, each 
individual, as it waded about, uttering a hoarse, low croaking note. Their movements 
were easy and graceful. 
Mr. Cassin refers to this species (Wilkes’s Expedition, p. 302) as apparently inhab- 
iting nearly the entire southwestern regions of the continent, from New Mexico and 
California to Patagonia. It is of frequent occurrence throughout Peru and Chili ; 
and, according to Chilian observers, migrates still farther south. It has been brought 
in collections from New Mexico and Southern California. Mr. Peale mentions that 
it was observed in flocks of fifteen or twenty along the banks of fresh-water streams 
and lakes in Chili, during the month of May. Its flight was quite graceful. 
The Bronzed Ibis was first recognized as a bird of North America by I)r. Wood- 
house, who procured it on the Rio Zoquette, in Texas, in the expedition to the Zuni 
River. 
According to the late Dr. Berlandier, this species is found among the swamps on 
the eastern coast of Mexico ; and its habits are described by him as very similar to 
those of the Green Ibis of Europe. He met with it, although quite rarely, about the 
lakes near Tamiagua, Tuxpan, and Pueblo Viejo, in the State of Vera Cruz ; also in 
the vicinity of Tampico, Presas, and Soto la Marina, in Tamaulipas, as well as among 
the swamps produced by the overflow of the Rio Bravo del Norte. 
It is undoubtedly to this species that Dr. Kennerly refers, in his notes on the birds 
observed on the Mexican Boundary Survey. He speaks of it as quite common in i 
June in the vicinity of Santa Cruz, in the State of Sonora, as going in large flocks, 
and as feeding in the valley of the river in swampy places. It was very tame, and 
was easily killed. 
Dr. James C. Merrill refers to this species as resident in Southwestern Texas, but 
as much more common in summer than in winter. On the 16th of May, 1877, in 
company with Mr. G. B. Sennett, he visited a large patch of tule-reeds growing in a 
shallow lagoon, about ten miles from Fort Brown, in which a large number of this 
species and several kinds of Herons were breeding. The reeds covered an area of 
about seventy-five acres, growing in water three or four feet deep. There were occa- 
sional irregular spaces free from reeds, but the firm bottom permitted wading without 
difficulty in any direction. Besides this Ibis, four or five kinds of Herons, as well as 
