361 



Family IBIDIDJE. 



The members of this family were long confounded with Curlews. 

 The bill is long, curved downwards and compressed at the sides, 

 and there is, on each side of the culmen, a longitudinal groove, in 

 the basal portion of which the nostril is pierced. 



The four species of this family known to occur in India are 

 referred to three genera. 



Key to the Genera. 



a. Tarsus covered with hexagonal scales. 



a'. Head and neck naked in adults ; plumage 



white Ims, p. 361. 



b'. Head naked in adults, neck feathered ; plumage 



blackish INOCOTIS, p. 362. 



b. Tarsus with transverse scutellae in front. 



c'. Head feathered in adults, only the lores naked. PLEGADIS, p. 364. 



Genus IBIS, Lacepede, 1801. 



The head and neck naked ; bill stout, blunt, the nostril linear ; 

 tibia half -naked ; tarsus reticulate ; toes long, bordered by a 

 membrane that forms a web towards the base, especially between 

 the 3rd and 4th toes. Tail moderate, of 12 feathers. Tertiaries 

 in the breeding- season with elongate plumules forming ornamental 

 plumes. 



This genus, of which the Sacred Ibis is the type, ranges from 

 Africa through India and the Malay countries to Australia. One 

 species is Indian. 



1541. Ibis melanocephala. The White Ibis. 



Tantalus melanocephalus, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 709 (1790). 



Ibis melanocephalus, VieilL Nouv. Diet, d' Hist. Nat. xvi, p. 23 ; 



Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 158; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 484; 



Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 310 ; Leyge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1106 ; Hume, Cat. 



p. 941 ; Doia, S. F. viii, pp. 372, 377 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 91 ; 



Butler, ibid. p. 43-5 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 77 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 268 ; 



Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 390 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 151 ; 



Hume, S. F. xi, p. 338 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, 



p. 226 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 7. 

 Threskiornis melanocephalus, Gray, Cat. Mamm. etc. Coll. Hodys. 



p. 137; Blyth, Cat. p. 275 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 768 ; Stoliczka, J. A. 



S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ; Hume, N. $ E. p. (332 ; id. S. F.\, p. 257 ; 



Adam, ibid. p. 400 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 25 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 231. 

 Thresciornis melanocephalus, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 174 ; Beavan, Ibis, 



1868, p. 399. 



Munda, Safed Baza, Didhar, H. ; Kacha-tor, Purneah ; Sabut-btiza, 

 Do-chora, Beng. ; Tatu-koka, Cing. ; Kayusoti, Burm. 



