BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 53 



ORDER HERODIONES. HERONS, IBISES, ETC, 



SUBORDER CICONI^E. STORKS, ETC. 



FAMILY CICONIID-ffi. WOOD IBISES, ETC. 

 SUBFAMILY TANTALIN-ffi. WOOD IBISES. 



GENUS TANTALUS LINNAEUS. 

 Tantalus loculator LINN. 



Wood Ibis. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Size large, with long legs, neck and beak, the latter measuring in specimen before 

 me 8| inches ; bill high and wide at base, tapering to the end which curves down- 

 ward ; tibise bare for more than half their length. Sexes alike in plumage. 



Male. Bill (dried skin) both mandibles about base blackish ; most of lower man- 

 dible, sides of maxilla in front of nostrils and culmen, of brownish-yellow ; lightest 

 on upper surface ; bare skin of head and upper part of neck dull bluish-black, 

 thickly covered, especially on nape and back of neck, with grayish-brown scales ; 

 tail and long wing feathers black, with green, purplish and bronze reflections. 

 Rest of plumage pure white ; legs (dried skin) brownish-black ; toes yellowish ; 

 iris dark-brown. Length about 4 feet ; extent about 5 feet. Weight 9 to 12 pounds. 



Habitat. Southern United States, from the Ohio Valley, Colorado, Utah, Califor- 

 nia, etc., south to Buenos Ayres ; casually northward to Pennsylvania and New York. 



The Wood Ibis, a common resident in the southern states, occurs in 

 Pennsylvania as a very rare and irregular visitor. The late Judge Lib- 

 bart, in his ornithological report of Lancaster county, says : " I ob- 

 tained a fine specimen of this species, shot from a troop of ten by Mr. 

 M. Ely on the Susquehanna, July, 1862." 



Mr. C. J. Pennock, in his catalogue of Chester county birds, writes 

 that a Wood Ibis was taken a number of years ago by the late Vincent 

 Barnard. Prof. August Kock, of Williamsport, has one in his collection 

 which was captured a few years ago in Lycoming county, and Dr. 

 Walter Van Fleet, of Eenovo, includes it among the stragglers in his 

 list of species found in Clinton county. Dr. A. C. Treichler, Elizabeth- 

 town, has specimens of this bird in his collection which were shot in 

 Lancaster county in the early part of July, 1883, shortly after severe 

 storms. Mr. Geo. P. Friant, of Scranton, informs me that a small flock 

 of Wood Ibises, about four or five years ago, were seen in his neighbor- 

 hood. 



In Florida, where these birds were very common in 1885, 1 found they 

 fed chiefly on fish, frogs and snakes. 



NOTE. Dr. Turnbull (Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania) writing of the 

 Glossy Ibis (Plegadis autumnalis) family Ibididce, says : " Last season 

 (1866) Mr. John Jrider shot a specimen just below Philadelphia. At 

 long intervals it has been seen on the river Delaware." I have in my 



