Rosy Ibis of China and Japan. 251 



% with steady flap, the legs stretched behind, reaching just 

 a little beyond the tail, the head full forward, the bill and 

 forehead looking black. 



Adult male.— Total length 31 inches; wing 16£; tail 6£. 

 Bill to gape 7 ; tarse 2>\ ; middle toe 3, its claw '6 ; bare part 

 of tibia 2. First five quills sinuated on the inner web. First 

 primary quill 3 inches shorter than the third, the longest in 

 the wing ; the second four tenths shorter than the same ; ter- 

 tiaries extending 1± inch beyond tip of primaries. Legs 

 Indian-red, with light-reddish-brown claws. Bill black, with 

 1| inch of apex of upper, and \ inch of lower mandible ver- 

 milion. Face-skin like transversely wrinkled raw beef. Iris 

 vermilion. 



Male after autumnal moult. — Face-skin as in the last; a 

 few fibrous feathers still projecting over the ear from its front 

 corner. Bill black, becoming red at tip. Iris scarlet. Legs 

 paler, with front of tarse and toes blackened except at joints ; 

 claws black. Outer quills still more or less brown. General 

 plumage rosy ; wings shorter than in the adult, and wanting 

 its flammeous lateral rectrices, moulting into the flame-colour 

 of the adult dress. 



Female after autumnal moult. — Smaller bird, with shorter 

 bill. Plumage as in the last. Iris paler. Legs and feet paler, 

 without the black. 



The plumage of the adult is of a lovely rosy white, the fea- 

 thers blushing deeper on their hidden portions ; but, like the 

 same tint in Terns, it fades away on skins. The wings and 

 tail have vermilion stems, and webs glowing with "une jolie 

 nuance aurore," as the ' Fauna Japonica ' aptly terms it. 



Dissection of male of first year. — Proventriculus granulated 

 beneath the outer surface, If inch long, -9 at broadest. Sto- 

 mach of an irregular oval, with strong lateral tendons, and 

 gummy adnate epithelium, 2f inches long by 2£ broad, full of 

 half-digested little fish and a few small shrimps. Intestine 

 white, -2-4 thick, about 6 feet long, with caeca 3 inches from 

 the anus, the right one about -4 long, the left little more than 

 a pimple. Testes small and bluish black, the left twice the 

 size of the right. (I would here remark that most birds 



SER. III. VOL. III. T 



