IBISINJL 391 



THE BLACK OR WARTY-HEADED IBIS. 



Length, 25 to 30 ; expanse, 48 ; wing, 14 to 15 ; tail, 7; tarsus, 

 3 ; bill, 6. 



Bill greenish-leaden ; irides dull orange-red ; legs and feet 

 brick-red. 



Head nude, black, with a triangular patch of bright red 

 papillae or warts on the back of the head, the point of the 

 triangle just above the eyes ; neck and body above fuscous 

 brown, nearly black on the upper tail-coverts ; wings glossy steel- 

 blue, mixed with purple, and a large white patch on the inner- 

 most lesser coverts ; quills dusky black ; lower parts dark black- 

 ish-brown ; under tail-coverts glossed with blue. 



The Black Ibis is fairly common throughout the region ; it is 

 a permanent resident, breeding during the monsoon. The nests 

 are more often solitary than otherwise. The eggs, three or four 

 in number, are moderately long ovals, more or less pointed at 

 one end, and are of a beautiful sea-green, but are somewhat 

 coarse in texture. They are occasionally spotted. 



They measure 2'43 inches in length by about 17 in breadth. 



The nests are usually found on the tops of high trees, and 

 are composed of twigs and fine sticks. Occasionally the 

 deserted nest of some other species is appropriated. 



GENUS, Falcinellus, Bechst. 



Bill long, slender; tarsi lengthened, scutellated anteriorly; 

 toes long and slender, otherwise as in the last ; wings with the 

 second and third primaries longest ; face nude. 



Falcinellus igneus, Gmelin. 



943. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 770 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 24 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, VoL 

 IX, p. 436 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 279. 



THE GLOSSY IBIS. 



Length, 22 ; expanse, 38 ; wing, 10'75 ; tarsus, 4'5 ; bill at 

 front, 6. 



Bill dull pale greenish ; irides brown ; lores and nude orbits 



Cle green ; legs blackish-green, with a blue garter above the 

 .ee. 



Adult : head, neck, breast, upper back, and all the under parts 

 fine chesnut-red, tinged with brown on the head ; lower back, 

 rump, wing-coverts, quills and tail dark green, with bronze and 

 purplish reflections. 



The young birds of the year are ashy-brown, with white mark- 

 ings on the head and breast. After the moult they are brown 

 on the head and neck, the feathers whitish edged ; the back 

 greenish-brown ; wings and tail as in the adult, but less glossed ; 

 the lower neck, belly, breast, and thigh-coverts, dusky black, 

 with mere or less greenish reflections on the breast ; lores 

 whitish, 



