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Ibises, of which there are about thirty species, are distributed throughout
the warmer parts of the globe. Four species occur in North America.
According to Chapman, they are 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.
The beautiful, lustrous White-faced Glossy Ibis inhabits the south-western
United States and tropical America. It is found as far north as Kansas, and
west through New Mexico and Arizona to California. In southern Texas it is
very abundant, and in some localities along the banks of the Rio Grande
swarms by thousands. Dr. J. C. Merrill in May, visited a large patch of
tule reeds, growing in a shallow lagoon about ten miles from Fort Brown, in
which large numbers of this Ibis and several kinds of Herons were breeding.
The reeds grew about six feet above the surface of the water, and were
either beaten down to form a support for the nests, or dead and partly
floating stalks of the previous year were used for that purpose. Dr.
Merrill states that it was impossible to estimate the number of Ibises and
different Herons nesting here. "Both nests and eggs of the Ibises were
quite unlike those of any of the Herons, and could be distinguished at a
glance. The nests were made of broken bits of dead tules, supported by and
attached to broken and upright stalks of living ones. They were rather well
and compactly built, quite unlike the clumsy platforms of the Herons. The
eggs were nearly always three in number, and at this date were far advanced
toward hatching; many of the nests contained young of all sizes."
The walk of the Ibis is quiet and deliberate, though it can move over the
ground with considerable speed whenever it chooses. Its flight is lofty and
strong, and the bird has a habit of uttering a loud and peculiar cry as it
passes through the air.
The Ibis was formerly invested with sacerdotal honors by the ancient
Egyptians, and embalmed and honored after death with a consecrated tomb, in
common with the bull and the cat. The bird probably owes its sacred
character to the fact that its appearance denotes the rising of the Nile,
an annual phenomenon on which depends the prosperity of the whole country.
The food of the Ibis consists mostly of mollusks, both terrestrial and
aquatic, but it will eat worms, insects, and probably the smaller reptiles.
The sexes have similar plumage, but the female is smaller than her mate.
[Illustration: WHITE-FACED GLOSSY IBIS.]