100 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
[SCARLET IBIS: Guara rubra (Linnaeus) 1 
Description. — Length: About 28-30 inches, wing 10.8-11, bill 6-6.5, tarsus 
3.7-3.8. Long bill decurved. Adults: Face bare, pale red; body scarlet; tips of 
outer quills black. 
Range.— Northern and eastern South America, from Venezuela to eastern Brazil; 
north accidentally to the United States. 
State Records. —Doctor Coues says that in June, 1S64, he examined a fragment 
of a specimen that had been taken on the Rio Grande near Los Pinos. This is a 
strange place for the bird to be found since it is a neotropical South American spe¬ 
cies that occurs only casually in the West Indies and perhaps Central America. 
“Its claim to a place on our check list rests for the most part on questionable evidence” 
(Bent, 1926, p. 34).] l 
WHITE-FACED GLOSSY IBIS: Plegadis guarauna (Linnaeus) 
Description. — Length: About 19-26 inches, wing 9.3-10.8, bill 3.7-6, tarsus 
3-4.4. Bill long, decurved. Adults: Face whitish , naked skin between eye and bill 
red; head, neck, and underparts mainly rich chestnut; crown, lower back, wings, and 
tail iridescent purple and bronze 
green; iris red, bill blackish, red¬ 
dening toward end; legs and feet 
dusky-reddish. Adults in win¬ 
ter: Head and neck streaked 
with brown and white. Young 
in juvenal plumage: Head, neck, 
and underparts grayish brown; 
From Handbook of Western Birds UpperpartS rich metallic green. 
A partial September molt makes 
head and neck streaked like 
winter adult. 
Fig. 7. White-faced Glossy Ibis 
Range. —Temperate and Tropical America, from Oregon (casual to southern 
British Columbia, Washington, and Minnesota), Nevada, Utah, Texas, and Florida 
south to Mexico and southern South America, south of the Amazon Valley. 
Range discontinuous; practically unknown from Central America (south of Mexico) 
and northern South America. 
State Records. —Breeding in Mexico and north to Texas, Utah, and Minnesota, 
yet the White-faced Glossy Ibis is known only as a migrant in New Mexico. At low 
altitudes it has been noted at Fort Thorn, August, 1854 (Henry); Apache, September 
7, 1886 (Anthony); Mesilla, September 24, 1913 (Merrill); Ojo del Cuerpo, Septem¬ 
ber 29, 1855 (Pope); and several small flocks in the bottom of the Gila Valley near 
Redrock, October 3, 1908 (Goldman). During the spring migration two were seen 
at Fort Fillmore in May (Henry), one at Palomas the spring of 1909 (Goldman), and 
several near Las Vegas in 1898 (Mitchell). This last record is at the highest altitude, 
about 6,000 feet, while the others are below 5,000 feet. Specimens have been shot in 
Colfax County by Mr. Charles Springer. Two mounted birds were seen at Glenwood, 
shot by Mr. Ivitt in the fall migration a year or so before on the San Francisco 
River a few miles below Glenwood (Bailey, 1906). On the Carlsbad Bird Reserve, 
13 were seen and one taken in the spring of 1912 (Willett). [On May 18, 1919, a 
flock of 12 were seen 30 miles southeast of Silver City on an irrigation pond of the 
Rio Mimbres, and on May 23, 1922, a flock of 14 was seen at the same locality 
(Kellogg).J—W. W. Cooke. 
.\J? accordance with the usual custom, certain species of doubtful occurrence in the State are included 
within brackets. 
