STORKS. 



163 



Australia also has only one species. Tlio different foiTOS, with the exception of the 

 true storks, are so distributed that it would souiu as if a species inhabiting one part of 

 the world is nearer related to those inhabiting distant regions than to those which live 

 on the same continent. The South American niaguari stork, for instance, is more 

 nearly allied to the Old World forms than it is to either the jabiru or the wood-ibis, 

 wliich arc both American. The true storks are strictly Palasogaian, while the curious 

 open-bills are Indo-African. 





Fici. 79. — Tantalus loailator, wood-lbls. 



The stork family has been traced as far back as the mioccnc formation, from the 

 beds of which, in France, A. Milne-Edwards has described a species, Pelargopappus 

 tnagnus. 



The wood-ibises form a somewhat isolated group of apparent affinities to the true 

 ibises, with which they were formerly associated by most systematists, and one species, 

 PaewlotnnUdus rhodinoptents, w.as, indeed, rcgardeil as the il)is, — that is, tlie sacred 

 ibis of the Egyptians, — until the beginning of this century. The resemblance is 

 quite obvious in the sub-cylindrical and gently curved Mil as represented in the accom- 



