I3ISES. 



3^5 



and broad, with the second quill the longest; and the tail short and truncated. 

 Unlike the storks, the plumage of the adult differs considerably from that of the 

 young. Although the skull agrees in essential characters with that of the true 

 storks, the furcula is Y-shaped. The American wood-stork (Tantalus loculator) 

 is the sole representative of its genus, and is characterised by the whole head and 

 upper part of the neck being bare. On the other hand, the African (Pseudotantalus 

 ibis) and Indian wood-stork (P. leucocephalus) have only the forehead naked ; 

 while the beak, legs, and tail are much longer, All resemble the ibises in their 

 mode of feeding. 



In the African wood-stork the general colour of the plumage is white, with 

 a tinge of rose on the back ; the scapulars and wing-coverts being marked with 

 small purplish streaks below their white tips. The tail-feathers and quills are 

 shining greenish black; the eye being yellowish white, the beak waxy yellow, 

 and the leg and foot red. In size the bird is somewhat inferior to the white stork. 

 Young birds have the neck and upper-parts ashy grey, and the rest of the plumage 

 yellowish grey. The species is restricted to Western Africa. 



The American wood-stork is a common bird in many parts of the United 

 States, where it associates in large flocks. According to Audubon, it feeds entirely 

 upon fish and aquatic reptiles, of which it consumes enormous quantities. To 

 procure their food, these birds walk in numbers through shallow, muddy lakes ; 

 and " as soon as they have discovered a place abounding in fish, they dance, as it 

 were, all through it, until the water becomes thick with the mud stirred from the 

 bottom by their feet. The fishes, on rising to the surface, are instantly struck by 

 the beak of the ibises, and on being deprived of life they turn over, and so remain. 

 In the course of ten or fifteen minutes, hundreds of fishes, young alligators, and 

 water-snakes, cover the surface, and the birds greedily swallow them until they 

 are completely gorged, after which they walk to the nearest margins, place them- 

 selves in long rows, with their breasts all turned to the sun, in the manner of 

 pelicans and vultures, and there remain for an hour or so." In the adult bird the 

 head and upper-part of the neck are bare and of a livid blue colour, tinged with 

 yellow on the forehead ; the legs are blue, tinged with yellow on the webs ; while 

 the plumage is white. 



IBISES AND SPOONBILLS. 

 Family 



The last group of the order comprises the medium-sized birds known as ibises 

 and spoonbills, represented by some thirty species distributed all over the globe, 

 and which may be conveniently included under a single family heading. All 

 these birds are distinguished from the storks by the beak being soft for the greater 

 part of its length, although hard at the tip, and marked by a deep groove 

 extending from the slit-like nostril on each side of the base of its upper mandible 

 to the very tip, which is truncate and bent down. The limbs are stout and of 

 moderate length, with the front toes connected by a short basal web ; the wings 

 are generally pointed ; and the tail is short and truncated, and the plumage soft. 

 As regards their skeleton, the lower mandible has its angle produced into a 



