[page 4]
"It always makes me feel gloomy," said Peggy Ann. "I don't
think I would like your home in the Everglades."

"You mustn't feel that way," said the wood ibis. "It is really a
lovely place to live. The bright colored air plants and the speckled orchid
vines also hand from the oaks. The sunshine comes through the cypress
trees in brilliant patches of soft green light; not a ripple stirs on the pools
of dark water, almost hidden with floating lettuce." (4: p. 445)

"Sounds lonesome to me," said Peggy Ann. "I still don't think I
would like it."

"Well, I can say that you would never be lonesome. We are very
sociable birds and we nest in large colonies, sometimes thousands of
pairs. Our colony, near Big Cypress Swamp is protected by law, and
nearly every tree has its nest. Some of the cypress trees with wide
spreading limbs hold six or eight nests. (9: p. 179) Why, we ibises are so
thick in the trees, we look like gigantic white flowers." (4: p. 445)

"Do you build your nests high or low?" asked Peggy Ann.

"Sometimes we build them in the very tops of cypress trees from
ninety to one hundred feet high. But in our rookery at Alligator Lake,
near Cape "Sable, we build them in the red mangrove