372 TROPICAL BIRD LIFE IN BOTH HEMISPHERES 



a great fiery triangle in the air, is singularly majestic. When 

 about to descend, their flight becomes slower, they hover for 

 a moment, then their evolutions trace 

 a conical spire, and, finally alighting, 1 

 they immediately arrange themselves 

 in long array, place their sentinels, and 

 begin their fishing operations. I 



The scarlet American Ibis, with black 

 tipped wings, though inferior in size to 

 his celebrated cousin, the sacred bird of 

 the Egyptians, far surpasses him ia 

 beauty. 



Six feet high, stately as a grenadier 

 Egyptian Ibis. q£ ^jjg guards, the American Jabirii 



stalks along the banks of the morasses. His plumage is white, 

 but his neck and head are black, like his long legs; his conical, 

 sharp, and powerful black bill, is a little recurved, while that 

 of the stork, to whom he is closely related, is straight. He 

 destroys an incredible number of reptiles and fishes, and, being 

 very sly, is difficult to kill. Two similar species, respectively 

 inhabit Western Africa and Australasia. 



The roseate American Spoon-bill {Platalea Ajaja) is particUf 

 larly remarkable for his curious large beak, dilating at the top 

 into a broad spoon or spatula, which, though not possessed of 

 great power, renders him excellent service in disturbing the mud 

 and seizing the little reptiles and worms he delights to feed on. 

 The Jacana possesses enormously long and slender toes, armed 

 with equally long spine-like claws. While pacing the ground 

 they seem as inconvenient as the snow shoes of a Laplander, 

 and yet nothing can be more suitable for a bird destined to 

 stalk over the floating leaves of the Nelumbos and Nymphaeas, 

 and to seek for water insects on this unstable foundation. The 

 jacana is found all over tropical America, and is also called the 

 surgeon, from the nail of his hinder toe being sharp and acuated 

 like a lancet. 



All these strange and wondrous birds, and numberless others, 

 whose mere enumeration would be fatiguing to the reader, 

 justify the ornithological reputation of the woods and swamps ol 



