CICONIIDAE 97 



Dissura maguari having like habits. Anastomus is called the 

 " Shell-Ibis " from its cleverness in extracting Unio and other 

 molluscs from their shells, and Mycteria thrusts its bill into the 

 ground in search of grubs. The nests are frequently in tall trees, 

 but may be on ledges or in cavities of cliffs, or on flat tops of re 

 hills ; the shallow fabric, often of enormous size, being composed of 

 sticks with or without a lining of grass, leaves, moss, rushes, feathers, 

 down, or, exceptionally, clay. Colonies are in most cases formed, 

 but White Storks occupy separate sites on houses, farms, towers, 

 or even cart-wheels purposely erected, and Black Storks breed apart 

 in woods and precipitous gorges. On the other hand, more than 

 thirty nests of Anastomus have been observed in one tree. The 

 eggs, numbering from three to six, are white and chalky, and are 

 stained easily. Incubation lasts nearly four weeks. The adult in- 

 serts its bill into that of the helpless nestling to feed it, while the 

 male attends constantly upon his sitting mate ; we may, however, 

 safely disregard the more fabulous instances of affection recorded. 



" Wood-Ibises " are similar in habits, but they are more grega- 

 rious ; and build smaller nests of twigs lined with moss, laying 

 as many as eight white eggs, rarely streaked with pale brown. 



Tantalus loculator, the " Wood-Ibis " of the warmer parts of 

 America, is white, with metallic greenish -black remiges and 

 rectrices, the bare head and upper neck being covered with dusky 

 corrugated skin, and the crown with a smooth plate. The beak 

 and feet are lead-coloured, the under wing-coverts pinkish. T. 

 (Pseudotantalus) ibis of the Ethiopian Region has only the front of 

 the head naked, but is rosy towards the upper and under wing- 

 coverts, the smooth face and feet being red and the bill yellow. T. 

 leucocephalus of the Indian and Indo-Chinese countries differs in its 

 yellow face, while the Indo-Malay T. cinereus has it red and black. 



Anastomus oscitans, the " Open-bill," another Indian and Indo- 

 Chinese species, is white, with black scapulars, remiges, and rec- 

 trices, yellow bill and feet ; the Ethiopian A. lamelligerus is metallic 

 black varied by a little rufous, the shafts of the feathers of the 

 fore-neck and lower parts in adults expanding into flat shining, 

 horn-like plates at the tip. Leptoptilus dubius, the " Adjutant " 

 of the Indian Eegion, is greenish-black above and white below, 

 the fleshy-red head and neck being naked with a few hairs, and 

 a white ruff surmounting the shoulders, while a huge ruddy pouch, 

 communicating with the nasal cavity, hangs below the throat. The 



VOL. IX H 



