242 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Guara alba (Linnaeus) 

 White Ibis 



Scolopax alba Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. lo. 1758. 1:145 

 Ibis alba DeKav. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 230 

 Guara alba A. b. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 184 



guara, South American name; al'ba, Lat., white 



Description. Adult: White; tips of four or more outer primaries 

 black; the bare face, bill and legs orange-red, the bill tipped with dusky; 

 iris light blue. Young: Grayish brown, rump, base of tail and under 

 parts white; face and bill yellowish; legs bluish gray; iris brown. 



Length 24-26 inches; extent 40; wing 11-12.5; tail 5; bill 5-7, from 

 the nose 4.6; tarsus 3.4-3.5 ; middle toe and claw 2.5. 



I have been tanable to find any record of the occurrence of this species 

 on Long Island since the time of Giraud, who records a specimen which was 

 shot at Raynor South in the summer of 1836, and another procured at 

 Moriches in the early part of March 1843. About the year 1895 one was 

 killed near Lake Ontario and mounted by a taxidermist in Rochester, N. Y., 

 where the fresh specimen was observed by David Bruce and recorded in 

 his correspondence with the State Museum. 



The home of the White ibis, or "Spanish curlew," is in tropical America, 

 extending as far north as southern Illinois and South Carolina. It is purely 

 accidental in New York State. 



Plegadis autumnalis (Hasselquist) 



Glossy Ibis 



Tringa autumnalis Hasselquist. Reise nach Palastina. Deutsche Ausg. 1762. 



p. 306 

 Ibis mexicanus DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 231 

 Plegadis autumnalis A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. ^o. 186 



pleg'adis, Gr. n-Xijyas, irXr/yaSos, a sickle; autumna'lis, autumnal 



Description. Adult: Rich dark chestnut, glossed on the back, wings,. 

 tail, front of head with purplish green; sides and lining of wings dusky 

 greenish; primaries greenish black; bill and legs blackish; bare face slaty 

 blue or greenish; iris brown. Young: head and neck grayish brown 



