Adult female. Similar to the male, but a little smaller. Total 

 length 24 inches, culmen 5-8, wing 14-6, tail 5-7, tarsus 3-5, middle 

 toe and claw 3" 6. 



The series in the British Museum is insufficient for me to deter- 

 mine all the changes of plumage iu this species ; but I conjecture that 

 the winter plumage follows the same rule as in /. melanocephala, 

 and that the bird loses the ornamental plumes of the scapulars and 

 inner secondaries, which will be found to be black with a greenish 

 gloss, but without the decomposed webs which characterize the 

 breeding-plumage. 



Young birds appear to have the bastard-wing, primary-coverts, 

 and quills tipped with black, more or less irregular in shape on 

 the latter ; the head and neck streaked with black, and in some 

 examples the throat is also streaked with black : the long inner 

 secondaries uniform dusky brown, with more or less white at the 

 base : " bill, legs, and skin of throat black ; iris dark brown " 

 {T. Ayres). 



Mr. Ayres gives the following description of the soft parts of a 

 female specimen killed in winter plumage : — " Bill, tarsi, feet, and 

 bare skin of neck black : iris blackish brown, with an outer ring of 

 dark crimson." 



Mr. Andersson says that in young birds the ring round the iris is 

 whitish instead of reddish, the pink spot under the eye is livid, and 

 the naked space under the wing is paler red. 



Hah. Africa generally, extending rarely to Egypt, Algeria, and 

 as far east as the Persian Gulf *. 



«. Juv. sk. Fao, Persian Gulf, Oct. 26. "\V. D. Gumming, Esq. 



[P.]. 



Egypt. Old Goll. 



Egypt. Old CoU. 



Egypt. Major Denham [P.]. 



Egypt. Purchased. 



Damietta, Egypt, Nov. {Filip- Shelley Coll. 



jwni). 



Usambara Hills, East Africa Shelley Coll. 



(Sir J. Kirk). 



Palombi Iliver, Shirwa Plain, Sir H. H. Johnston, 



Nvassa-land, Oct. 23 {A. [P.]. 



Whyte). 



Zambesi (Dr. Bradshmv). Shelley Coll. 



Transvaal ( T. Ayres). Shelley Coll. 



Transvaal {T. Ayres). A. Foresman, Esq. [P.]. 

 Transvaal {T. Ayres). Sharpe CoU. 



* Pallas speaks of a Isumenius this (Zoogr. ii. p. 165) as found on the Black 

 Sea and the Caspian Sea, but uot reaching the mouth of the Volga. Von Nord- 

 mann never met with the bird himself, but appears to credit its occasional 

 occurrence in South Eussia, as he enters it in his book. Bogd an oflP believes 

 that the species should be eliminated from the list of the birds of the Caucasus ; 

 but Dr. Eadde considers this to be premature at present, as he believes that 

 (be species may occur, and he enters the name of Tantalus ihis, Linn., in his 

 book. If any wbite Ibis occurs in the Caucasus, it will most probably be 

 /. (Sthiupica, which we know extends to Southern Persia. 



