AYES. 403 



occasionally observed in Holland and England. A very similar but larger 

 species occurs in Chili and Mexico; Ibis chalcopfera Temm., PI. color. 511. 

 —Ibis rubra, Tantalus ruber L., Buff. PI. cul. 80, 81, Cuv. H. Ani., id. 

 ill., Ois. PI. 78, fig. 3 ; in South America. 



Geronticus Wagl. (add Cercibis, Phimosus, Theristicus and Har- 

 piprion ejusd.), Gray. Tarsi robust, covered anteriorly with hex- 

 agonal scales. Toes often somewhat short, thick. (Wings with 

 third and fourth quills mostly subequal, longest. Face often un- 

 plumed, with a naked space between bill and eyes). 



Sp. Ibis cristata Vieill., Buff. PI. enl. 841, Dictionn. univ. d'Hist. nat., 

 Ois. PI. 9, fig. 2 i—Ibis albicollis, Tantalus albicollis Gm., Buff. PI. enl. 

 916, fi-om Chili, &c.; in this species especially the toes are short and at the 

 same time thicker than in the rest of the species. 



The most celebrated species is Ibis religiosa Cuv., Sav., Geronticus 

 cethiopicus Gray, Ann. du Mus. iv. 1804, pp. no — 135, PI. 53, (PI. 52, 

 the skeleton), Blumenb. Ahb. naturh. Gegenst., No. 86, under the improper 

 name of Tantalus ibis, Guer. Iconogr., Ois. PI. 55, fig. i ; white, the 

 head and neck naked, bill, feet and ends of primaries and secondaries 

 black; see the accurate description of Herodotus, Hb. 11. c. 76. This is 

 the species, as Cuvier has shewn from his investigation of the mummies 

 of the Ibis, to which the Egyptians paid divine honours and which they 

 embalmed, and which is so often figured on their monuments ; see also J. 

 C. Savignt, Hist, nat, et mythologique de ribis. Paris, 1805, 8vo. Pre- 

 viously another species, more resembling the stork, Tantalus ibis L., had 

 been mistaken for it. The opinion of Belon, that the Ibis of the Egyptians 

 was a stork, has had no adherents'. 



Platalea L. (excl. Plataha pygm(sa), Pehcanus MOEHEING et 

 veterum. Bill elongate, depressed, with tip orhiculate, broad. 

 Nostrils oHong, approximate, placed near the base of bill in a 

 gToove on each side, produced alongside the margin. Orbital region 

 denuded. Tarsi reticulate; feet tetradactylous, with toes long, the 

 anterior connected at the base by membrane, the hallux inserted 

 somewhat high, resting. Wings with first three quills subequal, 

 second longest of all. Tail short, even. 



Sp. Platalea leucorodia L., Buff. PI. enl. 405, Naum. Taf. 230; the white 

 spoonbill, la siyatule, der Loffler ; white, with a tuft of elongated feathers at 

 the back of the head; this bird, which, with the exception of the bill. 



1 " Excepte les apothicaires qui ont pris la cicogne pour embleme, parce qu'ils I'ont 

 confondue avec I'ibis auqucl on attribue V invention des clysteres." Cuvier Aom. du Mus. 

 IV. p. I -29; compare the citations there from ancient authors. 



26—2 



