WHITE IBIS. 
57 
plumage, from the male, or what changes both undergo 
during the first and second years, I am unable to say 
from personal observation. Being a scarce species 
with us, and only found on our most remote southern 
shores, a sufficient number of specimens have not been 
procured, to enable me to settle this matter with 
sufficient certainty. 
214 . IBIS ALBA , VIEILL. TANTALUS ALBUSj WILSON. 
WHITE IBIS. 
WILSON, PLATE LXVI. FIG. III. 
This species hears in every respect, except that of 
colour, so strong a resemblance to the preceding, that 
I have been almost induced to believe it the same, in 
its white or imperfect stage of colour. The length and 
form of the bill, the size, conformation, as well as colour 
of the legs, the general length and breadth, and even 
the steel blue on the four outer quill-feathers, are exactly 
alike in both. These suggestions, however, are not 
made with any certainty of its being the same, but as 
circumstances which may lead to a more precise exa- 
mination of the subject hereafter. 
I found this species pretty numerous on the borders 
of Lake Pontchartrain, near New Orleans, in the month 
of June, and also observed the Indians sitting in market 
with strings of them for sale. I met with them again 
on the low keys or islands off the Peninsula of 
Florida. Mr Bartram observes, that “ they fly in large 
flocks or squadrons, evening and morning, to and from 
their feeding places or roosts, and are usually called 
Spanish curlews. They feed chiefly on cray fish, whose 
cells they probe, and, with their strong pinching bills, 
drag them out.” The low islands above mentioned 
abound with these creatures and small crabs, the ground 
in some places seeming alive with them, so that the 
rattling of their shells against one another was incessant. 
My venerable friend, in his observations on these birds, 
adds, “ It is a pleasing sight at times of high winds, 
