768 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



941. Threskiornis melanocephalus, Linnaeus. 



Tantalus, apud LiNN^us — Blyth, Cat. 1622 — Ibis Macei, 

 Temminck — Jerdon, Cat. 323 — I, rellgiosa, apud Sykes, Cat. 

 188 — I. bengala, Cuvier — I. strlcticollis, Gould, Birds of 

 Australia? — Mundn, H. — Sufeid buza, of some — Kacha-tor, or 

 Kachia tori, H. in Purneah, {. e., Sickle-beak — Sabiit buza, Beng. 

 also Da-cliora — Manduk, in Behar. 



The White Ibis. 



Descr. — Head and neck nude, black; rest of the plumage 

 white, the quills black with green reflections ; scapulars and 

 tertials with the barbs disunited and open, lengthened, of a dull 

 inky purple or quaker grey ; winglet, primary-coverts, under wing- 

 coverts, and axillaries, creamy -white. 



Bill black; irides red-brown (blood-red in some); legs black. 

 Length 29 inches ; extent 45 ; wing 14 ; tail 5f ; bill at front 6 ; 

 tarsus 4. The skin of the wing-bones beneath is fine blood-red, 

 like that of the White-necked Stork. 



The young have the head and neck more or less clothed 

 with short white feathers, which gradually fall off, and they want 

 the lengthened scapulars. 



This Ibis very closely resembles the sacred Ibis of Egypt 

 I. religiosa, Cuvier, but differs in having a stronger bill, and in the 

 quills being shorter, with the apical portion hardly blackish, whilst 

 in religiosa, they are greenish-black. 



The White Ibis is not uncommon in many parts of the country 

 throughout India, is chiefly met with during the cold season, fre- 

 quenting rivers, tanks, marshes, paddy-fields, and pools of water, in 

 small or moderate flocks, and feeding on molluscs,. Crustacea, insects, 

 worms, &c., in search of which it moves its bill about in the water. 

 I have seen it occasionally at most seasons, but have not observed 

 its nidification in this country, though Layard states tliat he 

 found it in Ceylon in company, laying 5 or 6 white eggs, 

 sparingly blotched with rusty. It is exceedingly fishy in taste, and, 

 according to a writer in the Bengal Sporting Review, ' execrable' 

 eating. 



