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U. S. p. E, R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



IBIS ALBA, Vieillot. 



'White Curlew; White Ibis; Spanish Cnrlew. 



Tanlahis albvs, Linn. Sjst. Nat. I, 17GG, 243.— Gm. I, 651.— Latham, Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 705.— Wilson, Am. 



Cm. VIII, 1814, 43; pi. Ixvi. 

 Ibis alba, Vieillot, Diet.— Ord. ed. Wilson, VIII.— Bon. Obs. 1825, 179.— Ib. List, 1838.— Nuttall, Man. II, 



1834, 86.— AuD. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 178: V, 1839, 593; pl. 222.— Ib. Syn. 257.— Ib. Birds 



Amer. VI, 1843, 54; pl. 360. 

 Evdocimus albtis.Wi.oLER, Isis, 1832, 1232.— Bonap. Consp. II, 1855, 156.— Gundlach, Cab. Jour. IV, 1856,348. 

 " Paribis albus, Is . Geoffr." 



Tunlalus coco, Jacqdin, Beit. 1784, 13. — Gmelin, I, 1788, 652. 

 " ? Ibis brevirostris , Peale. " 

 White Ibis, Pennant, Latham. — While Curlew, Catesey. — Broicn Ibis, Penn. Lath. 



Cb. — Anterior half of head bare ; the feathers not reaching, in the adult, further than the middle of the eye. Pure white ; 

 the tips of five outer primaries lustrous greenish black. Bill red ; the terminal half black ; in the young entirely red. Length, 

 25 inches ; wing, 11.25 ; tarsus, 3.75 ; bill, 7. 



Hab. — South Atlantic and Gulf States ; straggling occasionally northward. 



A young bird, (9501 ,) probably of this species, is olive brown above ; the rump and concealed 

 portion of the back, with the under parts white ; the head and neck brown, the feathers 

 streaked centrally with darker. The head is feathered further forward ; the primaries, which 

 appear to be full grown, are shorter than the tertials ; the bill is much shorter than tarsus and 

 toes ; scarcely longer than in I. ordii, and without black tip. A rather older specimen from 

 St. Simon's Island (9502) has the bill entirely yellow, without black tip or serrations. The 

 plumage generally is white, with here and there the more immature brown color, as in the 

 quills, the edge of wings, streaks on the feathers of the neck, &c. The face is feathered nearly 

 as far forward as in the glossy Ibis, the feathers extending anterior to the eye, and nearly to 

 the rami ; the orbital region bare. 



Wagler, in Isis,' describes a white Ibis from Mexico, with the bill much longer and less 

 curved, and entirely red, instead of being tipped with black. 



'Ibis lonsiroslris, Wagler, Isis, 1829, 760.— Ib. 1832, 1232.— Gray, Gen. Ill, tab. 152. 

 EudocinMS longirostris, Wagler, Isis, 1832, 1232. — Bp. Consp. II, 1855, 157. 



