GLOSSY IBIS. 341 



together when closed another deep channel : the upper mandible is filled 

 inside to a great extent with the bony substance of the bill, so as to be 

 hardly concave. The under mandible follows exactly the curve of the 

 upper, and is but half as high on the sides : it is strongly canaliculated 

 below from the base to the tip ; the channel from the tip to the middle 

 is narrow, but then widens considerably, and is extremely wide at base, 

 where it is filled by a naked membrane forming a kind of jugular pouch. 

 The nostrils are placed near the base of the mandible, at the origin of 

 the lateral furrows, and are oblong, narrow, longitudinal, furnished in 

 the upper part with a naked membrane. The tongue is sagittate and 

 less than three-fourths of an inch from the acute point of its lateral 

 lobe to its tip : the jugular pouch is dusky : the small naked part of 

 the face, the lora and region around the eyes are of a greenish gray, 

 which passes into whitish on the limits of the feathers ; the irides are 

 dark brown. The crown of the head and cheeks are of a brownish 

 black with purplish reflections ; the throat immediately below the pouch 

 is of the same color, though somewhat less brilliant, and with more 

 green reflections ; the feathers of the head are pointed, those of the 

 occiput being moreover suberectile : the whole base of the plumage is 

 of a pale sooty gray. The feathers of the back and wing-coverts are 

 compact and rounded ; those of the inferior parts are rather loose in 

 texture at their margins : hind head, neck, upper portion of the back, 

 inner wing-coverts to the shoulder of the wing, and all the internal 

 parts of the body, together with the thighs, of a vivid brownish chest- 

 nut, very brilliant and purplish on the interscapular region : lower por- 

 tion of the back, rump, vent, tail and wings entirely, including the 

 upper and lower coverts and the long axillary feathers, glossy golden 

 green, with purple reflections, except the primaries, which are pure 

 golden green. The wings are one foot long, and when closed reach 

 precisely to the tip of the tail, which is four and a half inches in length, 

 and even at the tip : the first primary is hardly shorter than the third, 

 the second longest. The feet are rather slender, and the tarsus much 

 longer than the middle toe : their color is greenish lead, somewhat red- 

 dish at the joints : tarsus scutellated, four inches long ; the naked part 

 of the tibia nearly three inches ; the toes are slender, the middle with • 

 out the nail is two and a half, and the hind toe one inch long : the nails 

 are long and slender, but truncated and of a dark horn color : the mid- 

 dle one is the longest, and slightly curved outwards, dilated on the inner 

 side to a thin edge, which is irregularly and broadly pectinated. This 

 character is particularly worthy of remark, inasmuch as none of the 

 genus but this exhibit it, and it may be of great use in deciding at once 

 whether mummies belong to this species or not, though we regret that 

 no one appears ever to have thought of having recourse to it to deter- 

 mine this controverted question. 



