1 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
watchful that it could not he approached within gun-shot without the 
utmost caution.” 
Mr. K. H. Bennett found these birds breeding in the flooded country 
near the Lachlan River, in New South Wales. He says : “ On the 30th 
November, 1890, I started with the intention of visiting the breeding-place 
of Geronticus s'pinicollis, to reach which I had to ride nearly three miles of 
flooded country ... As I approached I could see colonies of the White 
Ibis . . . the nest only contained young ones in various stages, from just 
hatched to partly fledged. As I rode up to the bushes on which the nests 
were placed, the old birds of course flew off, and such of the young ones that 
were strong enough to do so scrambled out of the nests and attempted to 
conceal themselves in the dense tangled mass of Polygonum stems on which 
the nests were placed, but in doing so it was evident that numbers would 
perish, for I could see them suspended by the neck, wings, or legs in all 
directions, in their clumsy efforts to hide themselves. 
“ On a further search of the Polygonum scrub, which was of immense 
extent, I had the good luck to discover several other colonies, many of the 
nests containing eggs, though young birds were far more numerous. The 
various nests I examined contained from one to three eggs, but, strange to 
say, they were all in an advanced stage of incubation, no matter what the 
number was. In no instance did I observe more than three eggs or three 
young birds in any nest. The nests are nearly flat structures, composed of 
long, shiny sticks and twigs interlaced through one another, measuring about 
eighteen inches in diameter by six in length.”* 
“ The eggs of Threshiornis strictipennis vary in shape from oval to 
pointed ovals, are of a very faint greenish-white on the outer surface, and 
of a dark-green tint on the inner surface when held up to the light ” (North). 
“ The White Ibis chiefly frequents swampy localities, overgrown with 
long grass, or rushes, preferring those situations which partly conceal it 
while engaged in its search for various insects, small reptiles, frogs, etc. 
It is undoubtedly nomadic in habits, wandering about and visiting more 
favoured districts during periods of drought, and then being absent from them 
probably for many years. ”t 
“ I first found the White Ibis building at the latter end of July, 1900 
[on the Clarence River, New South Wales], in a large swamp, where the water 
is one to four feet in depth, and the reeds in places eight feet high, and in 
the thickest patch I discovered a colony of this species engaged building 
their nests. The laying of each straw, of which their very crude nests are 
* Bennett, Austr. Mus. Sp. Cat., no. 1, Vol. IV., p. 2, 1913. 
North, ib. 
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