318 SCARLET- IBIS. 



the young when hatched black, soon after gray, and before they are 

 able to fly white, continuing gradually to assume their red color until 

 the third year, when the scarlet plumage is complete. It is also said 

 that they usually keep in flocks, the young and old birds separately. 

 They have frequently been domesticated. One of them which lived for 

 some time in the museum of this city, Avas dexterous at catching flies, 

 and most usually walked about, on that pursuit, in the position in which 

 it is represented in the plate. 



The Scarlet Ibis measures twenty-three inches in length, and thirty- 

 seven in extent ; the bill is five inches long, thick, and somewhat of a 

 square form at the base, gradually bent downwards and sharply ridged, 

 of a black color, except near the base, where it inclines to red ; irides 

 dark hazel ; the naked face is finely wrinkled, and of a pale red ; chin 

 also bare and wrinkled for about an inch ; whole plumage a rich glowing 

 scarlet, except about three inches of the extremities of the four outer 

 quill feathers, which are of a deep steel blue ; legs and naked part of 

 thighs pale red, the three anterior toes united by a membrane as far as 

 the first joint. 



Whether the female diff"ers in the color of her plumage from the male, 

 or what changes both undergo during the first and second years, I am 

 unable to say from personal observation. Being a scarce species with 

 us, and only found on our most remote southern shores, a sufficient 

 number of specimens have not been procured to enable me to settle this 

 matter with sufficient certainty. 



Note. — It would appear that this species inhabits the western coast 

 of America. In the Appendix to the History of Lewis and Clark's 

 Expedition, Vol. Ii., p. 514, under date of March 7, the Journalist says, 

 "A bird of a scarlet color, as large as a common pheasant, with a long 

 tail, has returned ; one of them was seen to-day near the fort." As all 

 long legged birds fly with their legs in a horizontal position, the legs of 

 that above mentioned must have been mistaken for a tail. — G-. Ord. 



