CICONIID.E — THE STORKS — MYCTEPJA. 79 



tarsus, much compressed, the lateral outlines elongate-conical, but both curved upward for the 

 terminal half (the gonys most so) ; depth of the bill at the base equal to about two ninths the 

 length of the culmen ; gonys consideral>ly longer than the mandibular rami ; nostrils small, lon- 

 gitudinal, in the form of an ehjngated ellipse, without membrane, but overhung by a sliarp project- 

 ing bony edge. Legs very long ; middle toe a little less than one third the tarsus ; lateral toes 

 considerably shorter, the outer a little the longer ; halhix alunit half the length of the inner toe, 

 its articulation elevated decidedly above that of the anterior toes ; middle toe united to both the 

 lateral toes at the base by well-developed webs, the outer of which is the larger, these webs extend- 

 ing, narrowly, along each side of the toes for their whole length ; claws short, nail-like, or flattened 

 above and with broad rounded ends ; liare portion of tlie tibia much more than one half the tarsus ; 

 legs covered everywhere and uniformly with small, longitudinal, hexagonal scales ; toes with 

 transverse scutella? for terminal half. Plumage rather hard and compact above, looser below, the 

 feathers of the posterior parts with their webs somewhat decomposed ; upper greater wing-coverts 

 and tertials well developed, long, broad, and compact, the latter extending bej^ond the tips of the 

 primaries, as well as much Ijeyond the end of the tail ; primaries very stiff, their inner webs 

 sinuated near the base.^ Tail sliort, a little more than one third as L^ng as the wing, even, the 

 feathers broad, round-ended, and moderatelv stiff. Occiinit and upper part of the nape covered by 

 a patch of rather short and sparse hair-like feathers, the rest of the head and neck bare. 



This genus, as defined above, embraces a single species belonging to tropical America, the 

 M. americana, Gmel. ex Linn. More or less nearly related Old World genera are Ephifpio- 

 rhynchus, BoNAP. (type, Mycteria sencgcdcnsis, Shaw), Xenorliynclms, Bonap. (type, M. australis, 

 Shaw), and Leptoptilos, Less, (type, C'iconia crumemfera, Cuvier). These I have not been able 

 to examine. 



Mycteria americana. 



THE JABIRU. 



Mycteria americana, Linn. S. N. ed. 10, 1758, 140, no. 1 (part-) ; ed. 12, L 1766, 2.32 (part, excl. 



diagnosis, \\\\\^\\ ^ Euj-cnura maguari). — Gmel. S. N. 1. 1788, C16. — Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 



1790, 670. —Bonap. Consp. II. 1855, 107. —Gray. Handl. IIL 1S71, 35, no. 10190. — Scl.. & 



S.\Lv. Nom. Neotr. 1873, 126. — PiIDgw. Nom. X. Am. B. ISSl, no. 499. — Coues, Check List, 



2d ed. 1882, no. 654. 

 Le Jahiru, dc Cayenne, Buff. PI. Enb 1770-84, pi. 817 (adult). 

 American Jahira, Lath. Synop. III. i. 1785, 22, pi. 75. 

 Ciconia mycteria, BuRii. Tli. Ihas. III. 1856, 418. 



Hab. Tropical America, south to Buenos Ayres ; north, casually, to Southern Texas. No West 

 Indian record. 



Sp. Char. Adult (No. 17105, "South America") : Plumage entirely white ; bill, legs, and 

 feet, with naked portion of head and neck, black ; crop, and lower portion of neck all round, 

 reddish (bright red in life). AViug, 26.00 ; tail, 9.50 ; culmen, 12.30 ; depth of bill at base, 

 2.50; tarsus, 11.50; middle toe, 4.20; bare portion of tibia, 6.50. Young, transition plumage 

 (No. 87485, La Palma, Costa Rica, April 21, 1882 ; C. C. Nutting) : Pileum and occiput clothed 

 with dusky black hair-like feathers, these longest on the occiput, where they form somewhat of a 

 bushy crest ; feathered portion of lower neck light brownish gray ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and 

 tail, white ; rest of upper part soft brownish gray, irregularly mixed with pure white feathers (of 

 the adult livery), these most numerous among the lesser wing-coverts and anterior scapulars ; 

 primaries white, tinged with gray at ends. Lower parts entirely white. Bill, all the naked 



^ The wings of the only specimen at present accessible to us are much damaged, so that the wing- 

 formula and the exact character of the outline of the inner webs of the quills cannot be ascertained satis- 

 factorily. 



^ Linnreus's diagnosis, " Magnitude Ciconia?, alba, remigibus rectricibusque nigro-purpura.scentibus," 

 will not apply at all to this species, but is obviously applicable to Euxcnura maguari (see page 77). The 

 generic diagnosis, however, apjilies to Mycteria, as do also most of the references cited. 



