286 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Genus FALCINELLUS, Bechstein. 



The type of this form is the Common Ibis of the British 

 Islands, a species which is widely spread over Africa, India, 

 and Australia. 



Sp. 540. FALCINELLUS IGNEUS. 



Glossy Ibis. 



Tantalus falcinellus, Linn. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 241. 



Ibis falcinellus, Flem. Brit. Anim., p. 102. 



Tantalus igneiis, Gmel. Edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 649. 



Falcinellus igneus, G. R. Gray, Gen, of Birds, 2nd edit., p. 87. 



Phlegadius falcinellus, Kaup. 



Falcinellus igneus, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. vi. pi. 47. 



The present species is one of the few birds inhabiting both 

 hemispheres ; it has also been found in every part of the vast 

 continent of Australia at present known to us. I observed 

 examples in the collection formed by Bynoe on the north 

 coast, and I have seen others obtained in New South Wales 

 and South Australia. A careful comparison of all these spe- 

 cimens with others killed in Europe has satisfied me that they 

 are identical. I never observed it in a state of nature myself, 

 and from what I could learn from the colonists, its presence 

 must be regarded as accidental ; it is not a stationary species, 

 nor are its migratory movements characterized by any degree 

 of regularity. 



Head dark chestnut ; neck, breast, top of the back, upper 

 edge of the wing and all the under surface rich reddish chest- 

 nut ; lower part of the back, rump, quill- and tail-feathers of 

 a dark green, with bronze and purple reflexions ; orbits olive- 

 green ; irides brown ; bill, legs and feet dull olive-brown. 



"When this bird has attained the age of two or three years, 

 little or no difference is perceptible in the outward appearance 

 of the sexes. / 



