BIRDS — TANTALIDAE IBIS RUBRA. 683 



back of the third. There is a considerable difference in the external form of the species, 

 which has caused systematic writers to place them in different sub-genera as follows : 



Leucibis, Reich. — In Ibis alba the bill has obsolete serrations along the middle portion, 

 directed forwards. The forehead is naked to above the middle of the eye, the feathers coming 

 forward at about a rectangle to this point, but there are rudiments of feathers half an inch 

 beyond, or to a point a little anterior to the eye. The whole chin and upper part of the throat 

 are bare for about an inch behind the lower mandible. The bill from the forehead is as long as 

 the tarsus and toes. The tarsi are transversely scutellate for the anterior half ; covered with 

 hexagonal scales behind. The toes are stout ; the claws thickened, blunt, and much curved. 

 The outer lateral claw reaches a little beyond the base of the middle. The inner anterior 

 surface of the middle claw is extended downwards into a sharp cutting edge, but is not pectinated. 

 The primaries are considerably longer than the secondaries and tertials. 



The young bird has the head feathered almost as far forward as the commissure, leaving the 

 region round and in front of the eye bare. 



Ibis. — Ibis rubra has the bill without any serrations whatever. The feathers of the forehead 

 come forward to a point anterior to the eye, and about three-tenths of an inch from the bill; the 

 upper part of the throat is rather more bare than in I. alba. The bill is rather shorter than 

 the tarsus and middle toe. The toes and tarsus much as in I. alba, but the outer lateral claw 

 does not reach to the base of the middle. The middle claw has its inner face extended into a 

 cutting edge, with indistinct, perhaps accidental, notches, but no pectination. 



The primaries are considerably longer than the secondaries and tertials. 



Falcinellus, Bechst. — Ibis ordii has the bill quite slender at the base, and about as long 

 as the tarsus and half the middle toe. It is entirely destitute of serrations. The head is 

 feathered above to the base of both mandibles, leaving bare only the space between the horny 

 rami of under jaw and the region in front of and a little around the eye. The outer claw 

 reaches a little beyond the base of the middle, which has the inner face extended into a cutting 

 edge, but with no pectination, as stated by Bonaparte, but only an occasional accidental 

 notching. The claws are slender and almost perfectly straight. The primaries are scarcely, 

 if at all J longer than secondaries and tertials. 



IBIS RUBRA, Vieillot. 



Red or Scarlet Ibis; Pink Curlew. 



Tantalus ruber, Una. I, 1766, 241.— Gmelin, I, 1788, 651.— Lath. Ind. II, 1790,703.— Wilson, Am. Orn.VIII, 



1814,41; pi. Ixvi. 

 Ibis rubra, Vieillot, Diet.— Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827 ; Ibis, No. 4.— Nuttall, Man. II, 1834, 84.— Bon. List, 

 1838.— AuD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 62 ; pi. 397.— Ib. Syn. 257.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1845, 53 ; pi. 359. 

 £u<Jocimus r«6ei-, Wagler, Isis, 1832,1232, (type).— Bonap. Consp. 1855, 157.— Gdndl. Cab. Jour. IV, 1856, 348. 

 ? Tantalus fuscus, Linn. I, 1766, 242.— Gmelin, 1, 651. Young. 

 t Tantalus minutus,L,ins. Young. 

 "Ibis leucopygia, Spix, Av. Bras. tab. Ixxxviii. Young." 



Sp. Ch. — Sdult. Uniform and brilliant scarlet red; the tips of outer piimaries black. Young. Ashy; darker above. 

 Under parts and rump white. 

 Length, 28 inches; wing, 10.90; tarsus, 3.50; bill above, 6.80. 

 //o6. — South America and West Indies. Very rare or accidental in the United States. 



The occurrence of this Ibis as a North American bird is very problematical, the instances in 

 which it has been observed being very rare. Mr. Audubon saw it but once, when a flock of 

 three passed high over his head in Louisiana. 



