142 WOOD JBIS 



movement, resembling the Herons in this respect; ami when woumUd, they are very gen- 

 tle, sehlom attempting to defend themselves. They are also easily tamed and I onee saw 

 cue in a, ea,ge, which was quite unsuspicious, feeding mostly upon sm;dl fishes, bread, and 

 cooked sweet potatoes, which it wouhl take from the hand. The Roseate Spoonbills breed 

 early, usually in February or March,- choosing islands in the nearly inaccessible swamps or 

 hikes of the interior, as nesting places, where they rear their young in perfect safety. 



FAMILY II. TANTALID^l THE WOOD IBISES. 



Bill, about three times as long as head hut not groureJ. Furcula, long, icide at base, 

 not ivell-arched, but projected backward until it meets the tip of the keel. Marginal inden- 

 tations, two. 



The head is completely naked in adult specimens. The trachea is rounded, and the 

 Lirynx is simple, with a thin sterno-trachealis, but there a,re no other laryngeal nuiscles. 

 There is no tympanilbrui membrane but the os transversale is present and also a, small sem- 

 ilunar membrane. The proventriculus is hirge, globular in form, and is provided with sim- 

 ple, oval gfinds. The stonnich is not very muscular, and the fold of the duodenum is short, 

 inclosing a small pancreas. The intestines are small and long, but the coeca are very 

 short, being in fact merely rudimentary. 



GENUS I. TANTALUS. THE WOOD IBISES. 



Members of this genus are all large, witli the bill stout, otherwise the characters are the same as are given under Fam- 

 ily heading. Sexes, similar. There is hut one species within our limits. 



TANTALUS LOCULATOR. 

 Wood Ibis. 



Tantalus loculalor Linn., Syst. Nat., I; 1766, 240. 

 DESCRIPTION. 

 Sp. Cn Form, robust. Size, large. Tongue, very short, '85 long, wide at base and tapering" gradually to tip wliicli 

 is rounded. 



Color. Adult. White throughout, with wings and tail very dark-brown, glossed with green. Head and neck, na- 

 ked, the latter with transverse ridges. Under tail coverts, gi-eatly elongated and projecting beyond tij) of tail. 



Youncj. Similar to the adult, but the neck and a part of the head are covered with dusky feathers; the under tail cov- 

 erts are not elongated, and the scapularies are brownish. Bill, horn-color, iris, brown, and feet, bluish, in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Readily known by the large size, and colors as de.s>;ribed. Distributed, in summer, from Florida to the Carolinas.and 

 up the Mississippi, as fir as Southern Illinois. Winters in Fhirida. 



DIMENSIONS. 

 Average measurements of specimens from Florida. Length, 4-3-5(i; stretch, 6100; wing, 18-50; tail, 4 75; bill, 7-75; tar- 

 sus, 7-25. Longest speciuien, 45-00; greatest extent of wing, 63-00; longest wing, lO'OO; tail, 5-00; bill, 8-.50; tardus, 7 50. 

 Shortest specimen, 4^100; smallest extent of wing, 60-00; shortest wing, IH'OO; tail, 4-.50; bill, 7-00; tarsus, 7-00. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND E(i(iS. 

 Nfuls, pUtfed in high trees, c imposed ofsticks lofwely arranged. Enys, one or two in number, rather elli|ilical iu h>rm, 

 chalky-white in color, oicasionally spotted with jiale reddish-l^rown. Dimensions from l-70x-2-70 to 175x2 75. 



HABITS 

 The Wood Ibises are among the .shyest birds found in Florida, and I htive mtmy times 

 tried to obttiin a shot at them, but up to the present date, I have never even fired at one. 

 I have often marked down a tlock of a dozen or more individutils when Ihey tilighted iu u 



