The Straw-necked Ibis.

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 88

The Straw-necked Ibis.

A curious example of the economy of Nature has been given in the western district of Victoria of late years, in connection with the grub pest. A small, yellowish grub, about -Jin long, bega,n to play havoc with the pastures, revelling in the richer soils. This grub burrows just beneath the surface of the soil, and cuts off the stems of the grass, which then, of course, dries up, and is blown away. Tho grubs begin work in the early autumn, and keep on until the winter rains kill them off. Two years, ago the autumn was a very dry one, and' little rain fell until Jtine. The grubs did a lot of damage; but they were hardly at work before large flocks of the well-known straw-necked ibis (Caphibis spinioollis) came along, from the north, and commenced a strong attack on them.

As the autumn wore on, the flocks increased both in number and size, until, in a single paddock, there would be some thousands of the birds at work. As the ibis is a big, bird 1 , he consumes a huge quantity of grubs, and he seems to feed pretty well all day. At that time, driving anywhere along the roads through the grubinfested districts, huge flocks of ibis.es could be seen covering two or three acres at a time — on© solid! regiment of birds, all diligently plunging their long bills into the soft earth. At sundown they furnished a very pretty spectacle as they flew, in immense flocks, up into the timbered country where they roosted. The writer one evening counted seven huge flocks in the air a"b once. Although a big and rather ungainly bird, the ibises can fly splendidly, and when they 'get up from their feeding- grounds they rise several hundred feet into the air before they set out for their destination. They fly in long— andl usually double — strings, shaped like a V, with the point in the direction they are flying. But the flocks are so huge and unwieldy that it is rarely that the "V formation is properly kept 1 . Sometimes there is an undulating 1 single string stretching out for hundreds of yards. At first the grazier welcomed the ibis, and guarded him almost as jealously as ihe ancient Egyptians used to protect their sacred ibis. But it was found that the birds tore the ground about so much searching for the grubs that it was doubtful whether the cure was not as bad! as the disease. Last year the grubs were not so bad, and the rains came early, with the result that very • few ibises arrived ; while this year, so far, _none have arrived 1 , although there are still a few grubs about. Whether by some instinct the ibises have got to know that there is nothing much for them down here, or | whether, owing to better seasons, they have now good feeding grounds farther north, is an open question. — "F. R.," in the Australasian.