BIRDS — TANTALIDAE . 



681 



Family TANTALIDAE. 



Ch. — With naked spaces about the base of the very long, rounded, much attenuated, and decurved bill. Toes witli a basal 

 web, especially between the inner and middle ones. 



Of the present family but two well marked genera occur within the limits of the United 

 States, namely Tantalits and Eudocimus. Falcinellus is so little different from the latter as 

 scarcely to be worthy of generic rank. Bonaparte divides the Tantalidae into several sub- 

 families, which, with the North American genera, may be characterized as follows : 



TANTALraAE. — Bill Very much thickened at base, without any nasal groove. Nostrils opening 

 directly in the substance of the bill, not surrounded by membrane. Legs lengthened, and 

 covered with hexagonal scales. 



Tantalus. — Head bare of feathers. 



Geronticinae. — Bill with a groove extending nearly to the tip. Legs with reticulated scales. 

 Species confined to the old world and to South America. 



Ibinae. — Bill rather slender at the base ; upper mandible grooved to the tip. Nostrils sur- 

 rounded, except below, by membrane. Legs anteriorly with transverse scutellae. 

 Ibis. — Forehead bare of feathers ; claws curved ; plumage dull. 

 Falcinellus. — Forehead feathered ; claws straight ; plumage metallic. 



I have been obliged to change Bonaparte's names of sub-families by calling his Ihinae, 

 Geronticinae, and restoring the name of Ibinae to his Eudociminae. This is in consequence of 

 the fact that Ibis of Moehring, 1752, has the Tantalus ruber, of Linnaeus, as type, and must be 

 applied to the North American birds, so that Eudocimus becomes a synonym. 



Bartram, in his Travels in Florida, (1791,) describes a Tantalus pictus, of which Barton pub- 

 lishes a figure, in Trans. Linn. Soc. London, XII, 1818, 24, pi. i, given him by Bartram, and 

 there calls it Tantalus ephouskyca. It is difficult to say whether this be Tantalus, Ibis or Aramus. 

 The coloration as described, however, differs materially from that of any known species of these 

 genera. 



Comparative measurements of Tantalidae. 



July 20, 1858. 



86 b 



