320 BIEDS OF SOUTH AFBICA. 



quill generally, and sometimes the second quill, shorter than 

 the third and fourth, which are equal and longest ; tail broad 

 and even ; tarsi as long as or rather shorter than the middle 

 toe, strong, and covered in front with hexagonal scales ; toes 

 long and robust, with the inner toe shorter than the outer, 

 the lateral ones united at the base, and all the fore toes mar- 

 gined at the side ; thejiind toe long and strong ; the claws 

 moderate, compressed, and curved ; the head and neck more 

 or less denuded of feathers; the scapulars of some species 

 long, and composed of decomposed plumes. 



o 604. Geronticus -^Ethiopians. (Lath.) N*W\*. 



nius Ibis, Cuv.,*Vol. 3, p. 359 ; Bp. Consp. 2, p. 151 ; 

 Ibis Religiosa, Savig. ; Sacred Ibis. 



GENERAL colour, pure- white ; the tips of the wing-feathers 

 being brilliant dark-green, and the supplementary plumes 

 assumed by the male in his nuptial livery, deep rich-blue and 

 white, and very lax ; head, and the whole of the neck in the 

 male, bare and black ; in the female, clothed with short black 

 and white feathers ; chin and space round the eyes, bare, 

 black ; legs black. Length, 2' 6" ; wing, 15|" ; tail, 7". 



A few specimens of the Sacred Ibis have come under my notice, 

 killed in the colony ; one, a female, in fine plumage, having been shot 

 at Green-Point, within three miles of Cape Town, feeding about the 

 rocks which line the coast in that direction. It appears in Mr. Chap- 

 man's collection ; and he informs me they are very common towards the 

 Lake. I saw a large flock of them at Zoetendals Vley, in December, 

 1865 ; they walked rapidly^bout a mud bank in .the river near the 

 mouth, probing for worms ; and I noticed that they turned about in the 

 usual quick manner of the curlew. I was informed that they occa- 

 sionally bred in that neighbourhood. 



605. Geronticus Hagedash. (Vieii.) Tantalus 



Hagedash, Sparm. ; T. Caffrensis, Licht. ; J. Chal- 

 coptera, Yieil., Gal. Des. Ois., t. 246 ; Ibis Hagedash, 

 Wagl. Syst. Av. ; Hagedashia Capensis, Bp. Consp. 

 2, p. 153. 



GENEKAL colour above, dark-brown, glossed with shining- 

 green and purple, especially on the wings and tail ; head, 

 neck, and under parts, dull brownish-grey ; ridge of the bill 

 near the head, red, the rest black ; legs red- brown. Length, 

 2' 5" ; wing, 14J" ; tail, 7". 



The Hadadah (so called from its cry of "Ha-ha-hadadah ! '') is 

 only found in wooded places, such as the Knysna, where it is net 

 uncommon, associating in small flocks, and making the wooded streams 

 resound with its loud and not unmusical call. It feeds on worms and 



