404 CLASS XVI. 



much resembles Ihis religiosa'^, lives on small fishes, crustaceans, insects, 

 &c., keeps on the shores of rivers, makes its nest usually in trees or thickets, 

 and lays 2 or 3 duU-vi'hite eggs. The spoonbill migrates with the stork, 

 and is met with in Holland, especially in the canals of the Biesbosch, about 

 Dordrecht, in numhera.— Platalea Ajaja L., Buff. PL eyil. 165, Less. 

 Omith. PI. 99, fig. I, GuEK. Iconogr., Ois. PI. 54, fig. 3 ; in South America 

 and the south of North America. In Japan also a couple of species of 

 this genus are found, one of which is larger than the European. Another 

 species, Platalea tenuirostris Temm., Sonnerat Voy. a la Nouv. Guinee, 

 PI. 51, 52, from the Philippine Islands, is distinguished by red legs. 



Balcem'ceps Gould. Bill much longer than head, robust, 

 broad; culm en terminating in a powerful hook; tip of lower man- 

 dible truncated. Nostrils placed in a narrow slit at the base of bill 

 close to the culmen, scarcely perceptible. Orbits denuded. Skin 

 of throat loose, expansile. Tibia3 and tarsi reticulated. Toes 

 without interdigital membrane, very long; hallux directed inwards. 

 Wings very powerful, the third, fourth, and fifth quills the longest. 



Sp. Balceniceps rex Gould, Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1851, pp. i, 2, Aves, PI. xxxv. 

 Jardine Contrlb. to Omith. 1851, pp. 11 — 13 (figure of the head). Hab. 

 the upper part of the White Nile in Eastern Africa. This remarkable bird 

 is allied to Cancroma and Platalea, but Cancroma has, like the herons, the 

 claw of middle toe strongly pectinated, which is not the case with Balceniceps 

 or Platalea. 



Tantalus L. (in part), Cuv. Bill elongate, rounded at the 

 culmen, subcurved, emarginate towards the tip, without nasal 

 groove, with margins drawn in. Nostrils placed near the base, 

 dorsal, longitudinal. Part of head and sometimes throat without 

 feathers. Tarsi reticulate; toes long, anterior conjoined at the base 

 by membrane; hallux resting. Wings with first quill shorter, 

 second and third subequal, third longest of all. 



Sp. Tantalus Ibis L., Buff. PI. enl. 389, Less. Ornith. PI. 99, fig. i, Guerin 

 Iconogr., Ois. PI. 54, fig. 2 ; white, wings somewhat rose-red, bill yellow ; 

 round the eyes and at the base of the bill the head is bald and red-coloured. 

 This bird is regarded incorrectly by Linnaeus, Buffon and others as the 

 Ihis of the Egyptians (see above, p. 403) ; it is met with principally in 

 Senegal. — Tantalus loculator L., Buff. PI. enl. 868, le couricaca de Cay- 

 enne; Surinam, Brasil, the South of North America, &c. 



1 That there is a near affinity between Ibis and Platalea I thought to illustrate 

 also by comparison of the skeleton, but afterwards I found that the celebrated 

 physiologist R. Wagner, so experienced in the comparative anatomy of birds, had 

 anticipated me; Naumann 1. 1. ix. s. 307. 



