218 
IBISES 
pink color is very evident at a great distance, either against sky or 
foliage. 
1908. Chapman, F. M., Camps and Cruises, 141, 146 (Fla.). 
18. Family Ibidid^e. Ibises. (Fig. 37.) 
* 
Ibises are distributed throughout the warmer parts of the globe; 
they number about thirty species, of which four occur in North America. 
They are usually silent birds, and live in flocks during the entire year. 
They feed along the shores of lakes, bays, and salt-water lagoons, and 
on mud flats over which the tide rises and falls. Their food consists 
principally of crustaceans, frogs, and small fish. They fly with the 
neck extended and their wing-strokes are often followed by a short sail. 
i 
KEY TO THE SPECIES 
A. Plumage deep chestnut 186. Glossy Ibis. 
B. Plumage scarlet 185. Scarlet Ibis (Ad.). 
C. Plumage white 184. White Ibis (Ad.). 
D. Back brown, belly white. 
a. Rump white 184. White Ibis (Im.). 
b. Rump like the back 185. Scarlet Ibis (Im.). 
184. Guara alba (Lm). White Ibis. (Fig. 37.). Ads. — White, the 
tips of the four outer primaries black; bare parts of the head orange-red. 
Im. — Head and neck white, streaked with grayish brown; upper back and 
wings grayish brown; rump, breast and belly white. L., 25*00; W., 11.00; 
Tar., 3*40; B. from N., 4*60. 
Range. — N. and S. A., from L. Calif., Tex., and S. C., s. to West 
Indies, Brazil, and Peru, and casually to Great Salt Lake, S. Dak., Ills., 
Vt., Conn., and L. I.; winters from Gulf of Mex., southward. 
Long Island, two records. 
Nest , in colonies, of reeds and weed stalks, in trees, bushes and reedy 
marshes. Eggs, 3-5, pale greenish white, with chocolate markings generally 
most numerous at the larger end, 2*25 x 1*50. Date , s. Fla., Apl. 2. 
This locally abundant species is generally found in flocks of five or 
six to as many hundred birds which frequent mud flats, marshes, or 
the borders of lagoons. They fly in close rank, and when in large flocks, 
with their snowy plumage glistening in the sunlight and their wing- 
strokes accented by the black-tipped primaries, form a strikingly 
beautiful picture. They progress by alternate flapping and sailing, the 
neck being fully extended. Birds in the brown immature plumage may 
be seen in large flocks in the spring, indicating that the birds do not 
breed until at least their second spring. 
The Scarlet Ibis {185. Guara rubra), a South American species, has 
been recorded from Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. 
(See Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club., VIII, 1883, 185; also Scott, Auk, VI, 
1889, 15.) 
186. Plegadis autumnalis ( Hasselq .). Glossy Ibis. Ads. — Rich 
chestnut, upper and under tail-coverts, back, wings and front of the head 
with greenish and purplish reflections; lores (in skins) blackish. Im. — Head 
and neck fuscous-brown, the feathers laterally margined with white; rest of 
