IBIDIDAE 99 



Eegioiis is metallic black with white abdomen and under tail- 

 coverts, downy wdiite head and neck with black crown, reddish 

 bill and feet. D. maguari of South America has the head and 

 neck feathered, naked red lores and sides of the throat, white 

 plumage with lilack wings and tail, yellowish bill and red feet. 



Ciconia (Ahdimia) ahdimii of the Ethiopian Eegion is 

 bronzy-l)lack with white low"er surface ; the chin, membranous 

 forehead, and tip of the bill being orange -red, tlie remainder 

 of the l)ill greenish and the bare cheeks bluish. C. nigra, the 

 Black Stork of British lists, is iridescent black, with white breast 

 and belly, red bill, feet, and orbits ; C. alha, the White Stork, a 

 much more common visitor here, is white with black wings and 

 orbits, red l^ill and feet. The former — reckoning for the irregular 

 distribution characteristic of the Family — may be said to inlial:iit 

 Europe, Falaearctic Asia, and Xorth Africa, wintering southward 

 to India and Cape Colony ; tlie latter is more abundant within a 

 like area, and is represented in East Siberia, China, and Japan 

 by C. hoyciana with Ijlack bill and red orbits. 



The sexes in this group are similar ; but when innuature the 

 whiter species are often more dusky, and the lilacker species brown- 

 ish, while the bill and legs may then Ije greenish instead of red, as 

 in C. nigra, or the head and neck more feathered, as in Tantalus. 



The Fossils referred to this Family are Fropelargus of the 

 Upper Eocene of France, Pelargodes, Tantalus, and possibly 

 Leptoptilus of its Miocene; Amjjhipelargns of the Pliocene of 

 Samos ; Falaeociconia of the Plistocene of Brazil ; Palaeojyelargus 

 and Xenorhynchns of that of Queensland. 



Fam. IX. The Ibididae, connected with the Storks through 

 Tantalus, may be divided into the Sub-families (1) Ihidinae or 

 Ibises, and (2) Plataleinae or Spoonbills. In the former the long- 

 bill is weak, nearly cylindrical, and strongly curved ; in the latter 

 flattened, narrowed in the middle, and dilated into a terminal 

 " spoon," which tinally tvu"ns downwards. The nasal grooves are 

 remarkaljly elongated, the skull is somewhat square in Thaumatibis 

 and Graptocrphalus. The tibia is partly bare, the metatarsus of 

 medium length and often stout, with transverse or hexagonal scales 

 becoming almost reticulated behind, or even in front in Hagedashia 

 and Carjjhihis ; the toes are generally long, with short anterior wel)s 

 and variable claws, that of the third dii^it beino- sometimes serrated. 

 The moderate wings have eleven primaries and from fourteen to 



