250 



VERTEBRATES : BIRDS. 



Fig. 131. 



TANTALID^:, OR IBIS FAMILY. This Family comprises 

 waders with the bill very long, rounded, much attenuated 

 and decurved, and the toes with a basal web. 



The Genus Tantalus has the head, in the adult, en- 

 tirely destitute of feathers. 



The Wood Ibis, T. 

 loculator, Linn., of 

 the Southern States, 

 is forty -five inches 

 long, the wing eigh- 

 teen and a half inch- 

 es ; the color white, 

 quills and tail a me- 

 tallic blackish-green. 

 Birds of this species 

 live in flocks, feeding 

 upon fish and aquat- 

 ic reptiles. Finding 

 shallows that abound 

 in fish, they move 



Wood Ibis, T. loculator, Linn. ^ nat. size. about till the Water 



has become muddy, which causes the fish to rise to the 

 surface, when they are struck by the bills of the Ibis, 

 and killed. Soon the surface is covered with dead fishes 

 and reptiles, and the birds swallow them until they have 

 gorged themselves, after which they go to the shore, 

 and arrange themselves in rows, with their breasts turned 

 towards the sun. It is dangerous to approach them when 

 wounded, as they bite severely. 



The Genus Ibis has the bill very long, moderately thick- 

 ened at the base, and curves downward towards the tip. 



The Red or Scarlet Ibis, or Pink Curlew, 7. rubra, 

 Vieill., of South America and the West Indies, acciden- 

 tally in the United States, is twenty-eight inches long, 

 the wing nearly eleven, and the bill nearly seven inches. 



