172 M A L L A R D .
the inner elongated and tapering. Tail short, much rounded, of sixteen
acute feathers, of which the four central are recurved.
Bill greenish-yellow. Iris dark brown. Feet orange-red. Head and
upper part of neck deep green, a ring of white about the middle of the
neck; lower part of the neck anteriorly, and fore part of breast, dark
brownish-chestnut; fore part of back light yellowish-brown, tinged with
grey; the rest of the back brownish-black, the rump black, splendent
with green and purplish-blue reflections, as are the recurved tail-feathers.
Upper surface of wings greyish-brown, the scapulars lighter except their
inner webs, and with the anterior dorsal feathers minutely undulated
with brown. The speculum on about ten of the secondaries is of brilliant
changing purple and green, edged with velvet-black and white, the anterior
bands of black and white being on the secondary coverts. Breast,
sides, and abdomen, very pale grey, minutely undulated with darker;
lower tail-coverts black with blue reflections.
Length to the end of the tail 24 inches, to the end of the claws 23, to
the tips of the wings 22; extent of wings 36; wing from flexure 10£ ;
tail 4£; bill 2Z
5 ; tarsus If; middle toe 2-^, its claw %. Weight from
T
T21 to 3 lb.
Adult Female. Plate CCXXI. Figs. 2. 2.
. Bill black in the middle, dull orange at the extremities and along the
edges. Iris as in the male, as are the feet. The general colour of the
upper parts is pale yellowish-brown, streaked and spotted with dusky
brown. The feathers of the head narrowly streaked, of the back with the
margin and a central streak yellowish-brown, the rest dark, of the scapulars
similar, but with the light streak on the outer web. The wings are
nearly as in the male, the speculum similar, but with less green. The
lower parts dull ochre, deeper on the lower neck, and spotted with brown.
Length 22 inches. Weight from 2 lb. to 2^.
The Young acquire the full plumage in the course of the first winter.
( 173 )
T H E W H I T E I B I S.
IBIS ALBA. VIE ILL.
P L A T E CCXXIt. ADULT MALE, AND YOUNG.
SANDY ISLAND, of which I have already spoken in my second volume,
is remarkable as a breeding-place for various species of water and land
birds. It is about a mile in length, not more than a hundred yards broad,
and in form resembles a horse-shoe, the inner curve of which looks toward
Cape Sable in Florida, from which it is six miles distant. At low water,
it is surrounded to a great distance by mud flats abounding in food for
wading and swimming birds, while the plants, the fruits, and the insects
of the island itself, supply many species that are peculiar to the land.
Besides the White Ibis, we found breeding there the Brown Pelican, the
Purple, the Louisiana, the White, and the Green Herons, two species of
Gallinule, the Cardinal Grosbeak, Crows, and Pigeons. The vegetation
consists of a few tall mangroves, thousands of wild plum trees, several
species of cactus, some of them nearly as thick as a man's body, and
more than twenty feet high, different sorts of smilax, grape-vines, cane,
palmettoes, Spanish bayonets, and the rankest nettles I ever saw,—all so
tangled together, that I leave you to guess how difficult it was for my
companions and myself to force a passage through them in search of birds'
nests, which, however, we effected, although the heat was excessive, and
the stench produced by the dead birds, putrid eggs, and the natural effluvia
of the Ibises, was scarcely sufferable. But then, the White Ibis
was there, and in thousands; and, although I already knew the bird, I
wished to study its manners once more, that I might be enabled to present
you with an account of them, which I now proceed to do,—endeavouring
all the while to forget the pain of the numerous scratches and lacerations
of my legs caused by the cactuses of Sandy Island.
As we entered that well-known place, we saw nests on every bush,
cactus, or tree. Whether the number was one thousand or ten I cannot
say, but this I well know:—I counted forty-seven on a single plum-tree.
These nests of the White Ibis measure about fifteen inches in their greatest
diameter, and are formed of dry twigs intermixed with fibrous roots
and green branches of the trees growing on the island, which this bird