The Bird Book/Ibises

WADING BIRDS

IBISES. Family IBIDID^

Ibises are gracefully formed birds having a long curved bill and a bare face.

184. WHITE IBIS. Guara alba.

Range. This is a tropical and sub-tropical species which is found along the Gulf coast, and north to South Carolina, west to Lower California.

These handsome birds are wholly white, with the exception of black primaries. The legs and the bare skin of the face is orange red. These birds are very abundant in most marshy localities

Scarlet Ibis

Grayish

along the Gulf coast, especially in Florida, where they nest in rookeries of thousands of individuals. Owing to their not having plumes, they have not been persecuted as have the white herons. They build their nests of sticks and grasses, in the mangroves a few feet above the water. In other White ibis localities they build their nests entirely of dead rushes, attaching them to the standing ones a foot or more above the surface of the water. They are quite substantially made and deeply cupped, very different from the nests of the Herons. Their eggs are from three to five in number, vary from grayish ash to pale greenish or bluish in color, blotched with light brown. Size 2.25 x 1.60. The nesting season is during May and June. Data. Tampa Bay, Fla., June 4, 1895. Three eggs. Nest of sticks and a few weeds in small bushes on an island. Collector, Fred Doane.

[185.] SCARLET IBIS. Guara rubra.

Range. Occasionally, but not recently met with in the southern states. Their habitat is tropical America, they being especially abundant along the Orinoco River in northern South America.

Full plumaged adults of this species are wholly bright scarlet, except for the primaries, which are black. Their nests are built in impenetrable thickets, rushes or mangroves, the nests being constructed like those of the White Ibis. The eggs, too, are very similar to those of the preceding species, but both the ground color and the markings average brighter. While still common in some localities, the species is gradually becoming less abundant, chiefly because of the demand for their feathers for use in fly-tying.

117

THE BIRD BOOK

Glossy Ibis

White-faced Glossy Ibis Wood Ibis

186. GLOSSY IBIS. Plegadis autumnalis.

Range. This tropical and sub-tropical species, is chiefly found in the Old World. It is occasionally found in southeastern United States where it sometimes breeds. Its habits, nesting habits and eggs are just the same as the next species.

187. WHITE-FACED GLOSSY IBIS. Plegadis

guarauna.

Range. A sub-tropical species found in the southwestern parts of the United States, rarely found east of the Mississippi.

This species differs from the Glossy Ibis in having the feathers on the front of the head white, the rest of the plumage is a dull brownish chestnut, with greenish reflections on the back. As these birds are not in demand commercially, their numbers have not decreased, and thousands of them breed in colonies in southern Texas. They build a substantial nest of reeds and rushes woven about the upright canes, close to the surface of the water. Their eggs are laid during May, and number from three to four. They are easily distinguished from those of the Herons, being of a deeper greenish blue color and averaging more elongate. Size 1.95x1.35. Data. Corpus Christi, Texas, May 26, 1899. Pour eggs. Nest of twigs and rushes on side of river. Collector, F. B. Armstrong.