GRALLATORES. 285 



Like that bird it must retire to some unknown part of Au- 

 stralia, doubtless towards the interior, a single skin from the 

 north coast being all that I have ever seen from any other 

 part of the country. 



The Thrcskiornis strictipennis may at all times be distin- 

 guished from its near ally T. cethiopica, inhabiting the banks 

 of the Nile, as well as from the T. melanocepliala, by the 

 lengthened plumes which hang down from the front of the 

 neck, and from which its specific appellation has been taken. 



Head and upper half of the neck bare, and with the bill of 

 a deep slaty black ; back of the head and neck crossed by ten 

 narrow distinct bands of rose-pink, and on the crown of the 

 head a series of oval spots, arranged in the form of a star, of 

 the same colour ; the whole of the body and wings white, 

 tinged with buflp; the feathers on the fore part of the neck 

 long, narrow, lanceolate and stiff; primaries tipped with 

 deep bluish green ; webs of the tertiaries extremely pro- 

 longed and recurved, and of a deep blue-black mingled with 

 white ; thighs and knees deep purple ; tarsi and feet light 

 purple; irides dark brown. 



Total length 30 inches ; bill 6 ; wing 14 J ; tail 6 ; tarsi 4. 

 I have observed considerable difference in the transverse 

 rose-pink markings at the back of the neck ; in some spe- 

 cimens these are very conspicuous, while in others they are 

 scarcely apparent. 



The sexes, when fully adult, present but little difference in 

 the style or colom^ing of their plumage ; but the female may 

 be distinguished by her smaller size. The young, on the 

 other hand, for the first and perhaps the second year of their 

 existence, have that part of the neck which is bare in the 

 adult partially clothed with white feathers like the rest of the 

 body. 



