BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 63 



of bill blackish, bordered with a wash varying from pompeiian red 

 to brick red; base of bill puritan gray, shaded anteriorly into tea 

 green; iris cream color; bare carunculated skin around eye, and 

 between rami of mandibles between nopal red and brazil red; bare 

 skin on sides of throat primuline yellow, bare area on breast duller 

 than brazil red, shaded to primuline yellow laterally and anteriorly ; 

 tarsus and crus a peculiar purplish red between pomegranate purple 

 and bordeaux ; nails black. 

 The Aving is diastataxic. 



Family THRESKIORNITHIDAE 



MOLYBDOPHANES CAERULESCENS (Vieillot) 



Ibis caerulescens Vieuxot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 16, 1817, p. 18. 

 (Paraguay.) 



In the Chaco, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, this ibis was 

 fairly common from September 5 to 25, 1920, but was not observed 

 elsewhere. A female was taken September 7 and two males on Sep- 

 tember 12 (one preserved as a skeleton), while a female killed on 

 September 13 was so badly shot that I saved only the skull. In an 

 adult female the bill was black ; bare throat deep Quaker drab ; bare 

 loral region dark neutral gray; iris orange chrome, somewhat paler 

 on inner margin where it bordered the pupil; tarsus and toes tes- 

 taceous; nails black. In another female the bill and bare skin on 

 the head were black; lower eyelid pale vinaceous lilac; iris mikado 

 orange. 



These striking birds were found on marshy ground or about such 

 small pools of water as remained in nearly dry lagoons. Frequently 

 they were seen at rest in the tops of dead trees, where they had a 

 commanding outlook, but always over or near water. The flight is 

 direct, accomplished by steady flapping, and the passage of the bird 

 is often announced by loud trumpet calls, kt-ee kree kree, unlike any 

 other bird note that is familiar to me. They fly with neck and legs 

 outstretched in usual ibis fashion and are strong and muscular of 

 body, so that they are hard to kill and difficult to skin when finally 

 secured. The body gives off an unpleasant musty odor similar to 

 that of the glossy ibis. While calling they frequently sail with 

 motionless decurved wings. They stalk slowly about probing in mud 

 and water often to the full extent of their long curved bills, or rest 

 quietly in the sun and preen their feathers. At a distance they are 

 to be distinguished from Theristicus caudatus by the head, which 

 appears thickened and heavy because of the bushy nuchal crest. The 

 species was commonly known as handwi^ria^ or in Guarani as 

 curucau nioroti. (The last word, signifying "light," serves to dis- 

 tinguish the present species from T. caudatus^ which is characterized 

 as "blue.") The Anguete Indians call this ibis tay tit. 



