BIRDS OF NEW YORK 



245 



legs blue; feet blackish, the webs stained with yellow; iris dark brown. 

 Young: Head and neck downy; plumage grayish brown, the head becoming 

 bare and the plumage white with age. 



Length 35-46 inches; extent 66; wing 17. 7-19. 5; bill from nostril 

 7-8, depth at base 2 or more; tibia bare 6; tarstis 7-8.5; middle toe 

 and claw 4.75; weight 9-12 

 pounds. 



The home of the Wood 

 ibis, or American wood 

 stork, is in trojjical and 

 austral America northward 

 to Virginia, Illinois and 

 California. It is of acciden- 

 tal occurrence in New York, 

 five specimens having been 

 taken in the State as follows : 



Sand Lake, Rensselaer co., N. V. 



June 24, 1876. (2). F. S. 



Webster, N. O. C. Bui. i : 96 

 Glennie Falls, Ulster co., N. Y. 



July 8, 1884. Fisher, Auk, 



2:221 

 East Marion, L. I. June 21: 



1890. Dutcher, Auk, 10, 



266 

 East Gahvay, Saratoga co., N. Y. 



Aug. 1896. S. R. IngersoU 



& A. S. Brewer 



Family ARDEIDAE 



Bitterns and Herons 

 Bill nan-ow, wedge- 

 shaped, straight, about as 

 long as tarsus, with long 

 nasal fossae; tarsi scutellate in front; toes long and slender: claw of middle 

 toe pectinate, or comblike; liind toe very long on level with front toe and 

 its claw long and curved in the true lierons, straighter in the liilterns; 

 head long, narrow, flattened and sloping gradually to the hill: gullet capa- 



Wood ibis. Myclcria americana Linnaeus. From spt-cimcn 

 in State Museum. | nat. size 



