The Audubon Reader (53 page)

When a Booby has alighted on the spar of a vessel it is no easy matter to catch it unless it is much fatigued; but if exhausted and
asleep, an expert seaman may occasionally secure one. I was informed that after the breeding season, these birds roost on trees in company with the Brown Pelican and a species of
Tern,
Sterna stolida
, and spend their hours of daily rest on the sand banks. Our pilot who, as I have mentioned in my second volume, was a man of great observation, assured me that while at Vera Cruz, he saw the fishermen there go to sea, and return from considerable distances, simply by following the course of the Boobies.

The bills and legs of those which I procured in the brown plumage, and which were from one to two years of age, were dusky blue. These were undergoing molt on the 14th of May. At a more advanced age the parts mentioned become paler, and when the bird has arrived at maturity are as represented in my plate. I observed no external difference between the sexes in the adult birds. The stomach is a long dilatable pouch, thin and of a yellow color. The body is muscular, and the flesh, which is of a dark color, tough, and having a disagreeable smell, is scarcely fit for food.

I am unable to find a good reason for those who have chosen to call these birds
boobies
. Authors, it is true, generally represent them as extremely
stupid
; but to me the word is utterly inapplicable to any bird with which I am acquainted. The
Woodcock, too, is said to be stupid, as are many other birds; but my opinion, founded on pretty extensive observation, is that it is only when birds of any species are unacquainted with man, that they manifest that kind of
ignorance
or
innocence
which he calls
stupidity
, and by which they suffer themselves to be imposed upon. A little acquaintance with him soon enables them to perceive enough of his character to induce them to keep aloof. This I observed in the Booby Gannet, as well as in the
Noddy Tern, and in certain species of land birds of which I have already spoken. After my first visit to Booby Island in the Tortugas, the Gannets had already become very shy and wary, and before the
Marion
sailed away from those peaceful retreats of the wandering seabirds, the
Boobies
had become so knowing, that the most expert of our party could not get within shot of them.

[The Booby Gannet (Brown Booby),
Sula leucogaster
, appears in Plate 207 of
The Birds of America
.]

Sandy Island … 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 horseshoe, the inner curve of which looks towards 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,
grapevines,
cane,
palmettos,
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—endeavoring 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 easily breaks with its bill; the interior, which is flat, being finished with leaves of the cane and some other plants. The bird breeds only once in the year and
the full number of its
eggs is three. They measure two inches and a quarter in length with a diameter of one inch and five eighths, are rough to the touch, although not granulated, of a dull white color, blotched with pale yellow and irregularly spotted with deep reddish brown. They afford excellent eating, although when boiled they do not look inviting, the white resembling a livid-colored jelly, and the yolk being of a reddish orange, the former wonderfully transparent instead of being opaque like that of most other birds. The eggs are deposited from the 10th of April to the 1st of May and incubation is general by the 10th of the latter month. The
young birds, which are at first covered with thick down of a dark grey color, are fed by regurgitation. They take about five weeks to be able to fly, although they leave the nest at the end of three weeks and stand on the branches or on the ground, waiting the arrival of their parents with food, which consists principally of small fiddler crabs and crayfish. On some occasions I have found them at this age miles away from the breeding places, and in this state they are easily caught. As soon as the young are able to provide for themselves, the old birds leave them and the different individuals are then seen searching for food apart. While nesting or in the act of incubating these Ibises are extremely gentle and unwary unless they may have been much disturbed, for they almost allow you to touch them on the nest. The females are silent all the while, but the males evince their displeasure by uttering sounds which greatly resemble those of the
White-headed Pigeon and which may be imitated by the syllables
crooh, croo, croo
. The report of a gun scarcely alarms them at first, although at all other periods these birds are shy and vigilant in the highest degree.

The change in the coloring of the bill, legs and feet of this bird that takes place in the breeding-season is worthy of remark, the bill being then of a deep orange red, and the legs and feet of a red nearly amounting to carmine. The males at this season have the
gular pouch of a rich orange color and somewhat resembling in shape that of the
Frigate Pelican although proportionally less. During winter these parts are of a dull flesh color. The irides also lose much of their clear blue and resume in some degree the umber color of the young birds. I am thus particular in these matters because it is doubtful if anyone else has ever paid attention to them.

While breeding, the White Ibises go to a great distance in search of food for their young, flying
in flocks of several hund
reds. Their excursions take place at particular periods determined by the decline of the tides, when all the birds that are not sitting go off perhaps twenty or thirty miles to the great mud flats where they collect abundance of food with which they return the moment the tide begins to flow. As the birds of this genus feed by night as well as by day, the White Ibis attends the tides at whatever hour they may be. Some of those which bred on Sandy Key would go to the keys next the Atlantic, more than forty miles distant, while others made for the Everglades; but they never went off singly. They rose with common accord from the breeding ground, forming themselves into long lines, often a mile in extent, and soon disappeared from view. Soon after the turn of the tide we saw them approaching in the same order. Not a note could you have heard on those occasions; yet if you disturb them when far from their nests they utter loud hoarse cries resembling the syllables
hunk, hunk, hunk
, either while on the ground or as they fly off.

The
flight of the White Ibis is rapid and protracted. Like all other species of the genus these birds pass through the air with alternate flappings and sailings; and I have thought that the use of either mode depended upon the leader of the flock, for with the most perfect regularity each individual follows the motion of that preceding it so that a constant appearance of regular undulations is produced through the whole line. If one is shot at this time the whole line is immediately broken up, and for a few minutes all is disorder; but as they continue their course they soon resume their former arrangement. The wounded bird never attempts to bite or to defend itself in any manner, although if only winged it runs off with more speed than is pleasant to its pursuer.

At other times the White Ibis, like the Red and the
Wood Ibises, rises to an immense height in the air, where it performs beautiful evolutions. After they have thus, as it were, amused themselves for some time they glide down with astonishing speed and alight either on trees or on the ground. Should the sun be shining they appear in their full beauty and the glossy black tips of their wings form a fine contrast with the yellowish-white of the rest of their
plumage.

This species is as fond of resorting to the ponds, bayous or lakes that are met with in the
woods as the Wood Ibis itself. I have found it breeding there at a distance of more than three hundred miles from the sea and remaining in the midst of the thickest forests until driven off to warmer latitudes by the approach of winter. This is the case in the State of Mississippi not far from Natchez and in all the swampy forests around Bayou Sarah and Pointe Coupee as well as the interior of the Floridas. When disturbed in such places these Ibises fly at once to the tops of the tallest
trees, emitting their hoarse
hunk
, and watch your motions with so much care that it is extremely difficult to get within shot of them.

The manner in which this bird searches for its
food is very curious. The Woodcock and the Snipe, it is true, are probers as well as it, but their task requires less ingenuity than is exercised by the White or the Red Ibis. It is also true that the White Ibis frequently seizes on small crabs, slugs and snails and even at times on flying insects; but its usual mode of procuring food is a strong proof that
cunning enters as a principal ingredient in its instinct. The
crayfish often burrows to the depth of three or four feet in dry weather, for before it can be comfortable it must reach the water. This is generally the case during the prolonged heats of summer, at which time the White Ibis is most pushed for food. The bird to procure the crayfish walks with remarkable care towards the mounds of mud which the latter throws up while forming its hole and breaks up the upper part of the fabric, dropping the fragments into the deep cavity that has been made by the animal. Then the Ibis retires a single step and patiently waits the result. The crayfish, incommoded by the load of earth, instantly sets to work anew and at last reaches the entrance of its burrow; but the moment it comes in sight, the Ibis seizes it with his bill.

Whilst at
Indian Key I observed an immense quantity of beautiful tree snails of a pyramidal or shortly conical form, some pure white, others curiously marked with spiral lines of bright red, yellow and black. They were crawling vigorously on every branch of each bush where there was not a nest of the White Ibis; but wherever that bird had fixed its habitation not a live snail was to be seen although hundreds lay dead beneath. Was this caused by the corrosive quality of the bird’s ordure?

There is a curious though not altogether general difference between the sexes of this species as to the
plumage: the male has five of its primaries tipped with glossy black for several inches, while the female, which is very little smaller than the male, has only four marked in this manner. On examining more than a hundred individuals of each sex I found only four exceptions which occurred in females that were very old birds and which, as happens in some other species, might perhaps have been undergoing the curious change exhibited by
ducks,
pheasants and some other birds, the females of which when old sometimes assume the livery of the males.

Much, as you are aware, good reader, has been said respecting the “
oil bags” of birds. I dislike controversy, simply because I never saw the least indications of it in the ways of the Almighty Creator. Should I err, forgive me, but my opinion is that these organs were not made without an object. Why should they consist of matter so conveniently placed and so disposed as to issue under the least pressure through apertures in the form of well-defined tubes? The White Ibis, as well as the
Wood Ibis and all the other species of this genus when in full health, has these oil bags of great size, and if my eyes have not deceived me, makes great use of their contents. Should you feel anxious to satisfy yourself on this subject, I request of you to keep some Ibises alive for several weeks as I have done and you will have an opportunity of judging. And again, tell me if the fat contained in these bags is not the very best
lip salve
that can be procured.

When any species of Ibis with which I am acquainted falls into the water on being wounded, it swims tolerably well; but I have never observed any taking to the water and swimming either by choice or to escape pursuit. While in the company of Mr.
Joseph Mason, a young man who was for some time employed by me and who has drawn plants to some of my birds, although not so successfully as my amiable friend Miss Martin, or
George Lehman, who finish those they draw as beautifully as my learned and valued friend
William Macgillivray of Edinburgh does his faithful drawings of birds, I chanced one morning to be on the lookout for White Ibises in a delightful swamp not many miles from Bayou Sarah. It was in the end of summer and all around was pure and
calm as the clear sky, the bright azure of which was reflected by the lake before us. The trees had already exchanged the verdure of their foliage for more mellow tints of diversified hue; the mast dropped from the boughs; some of the
Warblers had begun to think of removing farther south; the
Night Hawk in company with the
Chimney Swallow was passing swiftly towards the land of their winter residence and the Ibises had all departed for the Florida coasts excepting a few of the white species, one of which we at length espied. It was perched about fifty yards from us towards the center of the pool, and as the report of one of our guns echoed among the tall cypresses, down to the water, broken-winged, it fell. The exertions which it made to reach the shore seemed to awaken the half-torpid
alligators that lay in the deep mud at the bottom of the pool. One shewed his head above the water, then a second and a third. All gave chase to the poor wounded bird, which on seeing its dreaded and deadly foes made double speed towards the very spot where we stood. I was surprised to see how much faster the bird swam than the reptiles who, with jaws widely opened, urged their heavy bodies through the water. The Ibis was now within a few yards of us. It was the alligator’s last chance. Springing forward as it were, he raised his body almost out of the water; his jaws nearly touched the terrified bird when, pulling three triggers at once, we lodged the contents of our guns in the throat of the monster. Thrashing furiously with his tail and rolling his body in agony the alligator at last sunk to the mud; and the Ibis as if in gratitude walked to our very feet, and there lying down, surrendered itself to us. I kept this bird until the succeeding spring, and by care and good nursing had the pleasure of seeing its broken wing perfectly mended when, after its long captivity, I restored it to liberty in the midst of its loved swamps and woods.