54 GRALLATORES. IBIS. IBIS. 



ness about its base, and upon its surface, in the old 

 bird. The iris is pinkish-grey. The outer webs and 

 tips of the two or three first quill-feathers are black ; 

 and the yellow gorget is not acquired till the end of the 

 second, or beginning of the third year. 



GENUS IBIS. IBIS. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill very long, slender from the middle to the point, 

 thickened and subangulate at the base, arched, higher than 

 broad, compressed, and with the tip obtuse. |The upper 

 mandible projecting a little beyond the lower one, deeply 

 furrowed on each side of the culmen for the whole of its 

 length ; the tomia nearly upright immediately at the base, 

 from thence to the tip much drawn inwards, and forming a 

 narrow canal in the centre of the interior of the bill ; culmen 

 rounded, narrower towards the base. Under mandible with 

 the same curvature as the upper one ; the anterior part 

 rounded by the intraction of the tomia ; the basal half with 

 the sides square and upright. Angle of the chin narrow, 

 and occupying about one-half the length of the mandible, 

 filled with a naked skin. Nostrils near the base of the bill, 

 placed in the commencement of the lateral furrows, oblong, 

 longitudinal, and protected above by a naked membrane. 

 Face more or less naked : in some species, the whole of the 

 head and neck bare of feathers. Tongue short, sharp- 

 pointed or entire. Legs long, or of mean length, slender ; 

 the tibia partly naked. Toes three before, and one behind ; 

 the middle toe joined to the outer by a membrane as far as 

 the first joint ; the inner one nearly free. Hind toe half the 

 length of the outer one ; articulated opposite to the inner 

 toe, and resting, for nearly its whole length, upon the 

 ground. Front of the tarsus in some species scutellated ; in 



