456 IBIS 
the F. melanocephala of India, the £ molucca, or ‘i strictipennis, of 
Australia, and the §. bernieri of Madagascar, all of which closely 
resemble §. xthiopica; while many other forms not very far re- 
moved from it, though placed by authors in distinct genera,! are 
also known. Among these are several beautiful species such as the 
Japanese Creronticus nippon, the Lophotibis cristata of Madagascar, and 
the Scarlet Ibis,? Hudocimus ruber, of America; but here there is 
only room to mention more particularly the Glossy Ibis, Plegadis 
falcinellus, a species of very wide distribution in both hemispheres, 
being found throughout the Antilles, Central and the south-eastern 
part of North America, as well as in many parts of Europe (whence 
it not unfrequently strays to the British Islands), Africa, Asia and 
Australia. This bird, which is no doubt the second kind of Ibis 
spoken of by Herodotus, is rather smaller than the Sacred Ibis, and 
mostly of a dark chestnut or deep bay colour with brilliant green 
and purple reflexions on the upper parts, exhibiting, however, 
when young little of this glossiness. One of the most remarkable 
things about this species is that it lays eggs of a deep sea-green 
colour, having wholly the character of Herons’ eggs, and it is to be 
noticed that it often breeds in company with Herons, while the 
eggs of all other Ibises whose eggs are known, ‘resemble those of 
the Sacred Ibis. Congeneric with the Glossy Ibis, some three or 
four other species, all from South America, have been described ; 
but the propriety of deeming them distinct is questioned by some 
authorities. 
Much as the Ibises resemble the Curlews externally, there is no 
real affinity between them. The Jbididx are more nearly related to 
the Ciconiidz (STORK), and still more to the Plataleidx (SPOONBILL), 
with which latter many systematists consider them to form one 
group, the Hemiglottides of Nitzsch. They belong to the Pelargo- 
morphx of Prof. Huxley, one of the divisions of his Desmognathe, 
while the Curlews are Schizognathous. The true Ibises above 
spoken of are also to be clearly separated from the Wood-lbises, 
Tantaidx, of which there are four or five species, by several not 
unimportant structural characters, which cannot here be particu- 
larized for want of space. Fossil remains of a true Ibis, J. pagana, 
have been found in considerable numbers in the middle Tertiary 
beds of France. » 
1 For some account of these may be consulted Dr. Reichenow’s paper in 
Journ, fiir Orn. 1877, pp. 143-156; Mr. Elliot’s in Proc. Zool. Society, 1877, 
pp. 477-510; and that of M. Oustalet in Nowy. Arch. du Muséum, ser. 2, 1. 
pp. 167-184. 
* It is a popular error—especially among painters, as almost every annual 
exhibition of the Royal Academy witnesses—that this bird was the Sacred Ibis 
of the Egyptians. It was of course utterly unkuown in the Old World until the 
discovery of the New. 
