DAVISON'S BLACK IBIS. 269 



and tertiaries lengthened and decomposed, grey ; plumes of the lower neck 

 lengthened. 



In winter the scapulars and tertiaries are only slightly lengthened and 

 are not decomposed and the neck-plumes are absent. 



Bill black ; iris brown ; the whole head and neck and the edges of the 

 eyelids dark bluish black ; legs and toes glossy black ; claws dull black. 



Length 31 inches, tail 5'8, wing 15, tarsus 4, bill from gape 7. 



The White Ibis occurs plentifully over the plains of Southern Pegu ; it 

 is stated by Mr. Blyth to be found in Arrakan and Tenasserim, and in the 

 latter Division was observed by Mr. Davison, who states that it is not un- 

 common in the plains of the central portion. 



It is met with over the greater part of India and Ceylon, the Indo- 

 Burmese countries, Southern China, Siam, Cochin China, the Malay 

 peninsula, Sumatra, Java and Borneo. 



This Ibis frequents marshes, paddy-fields and the muddy banks of rivers, 

 going about in large flocks, and searching for its food in the water. It 

 probably breeds in Burmah. In India it constructs a nest of sticks in a 

 tree in June, July or August, and lays two to four pale greenish- white eggs. 



/. athiopica, the Sacred Ibis of Egypt, is closely allied, differing chiefly 

 in having the tips of the primaries greenish black and the tertiaries blacker 

 and more lengthened. 



Genus GKAPTOCEPHALUS, Elliot. 



633. GRAPTOCEPHALUS DAVISONI. 

 DAVISON'S BLACK IBIS. 



Geronticus davisoni, Hume, S. F. iii. p. 300. Geronticus papillosus, apua 

 Oates, S. F. iii. p. 347. Inocotis papillosus, apud Oates, S. F. v. p. 169. 

 Graptocephalus davisoni, Elliot, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 490 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. 

 vi. p. 485 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 114 ; Oates, S. F. ix. p. 300, x. p. 244. Ibis 

 harmondi, Oust. BuU. Soc. Philom. 1877, p. 28. 



Description. Male and female. The head and a portion of the neck 

 naked, the front of the head covered with small warts ; the remainder of 

 the neck, the whole lower plumage, the back, scapulars and tertiaries dark 

 brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts darker with a greenish lustre, which 

 is also more or less present on the scapulars and under tail-coverts ; quills 

 and tail glossy bluish black ; the lesser wing-coverts next the body white, 

 forming a conspicuous spot on the wing. 



