THE GLOSSY IBISES. 103 



THE IBISES AND SPOON-BILLS. 



SUB-ORDER PLATALE^. 



These birds have the bridged, or " desmognathous," palate of 

 the Herons, but they have schizorhinal nostrils, not holorhinal, 

 as in the last named birds. Basipterygoid processes are ab- 

 sent, and the sternum has four notches, or clefts, in its poste- 

 rior end. 



The Sub-order contains two families, the PlatakidcR^ or 

 Spoon-bills, and the Ibises (Ibidid<z\ which are both almost 

 cosmopolitan in their range. 



THE IBISES. FAMILY IBIDID^E. 



The Ibises are found all over the world and comprise some 

 eighteen genera, with only one of which are we concerned in 

 the present volume, viz., the genus Plegadis. In the Family 

 Ibidida are included some remarkable forms, of which the 

 Sacred Ibis (Ibis czthiopica) is perhaps the best known, from its 

 connection with ancient Egyptian lore. It is now very rarely 

 met with in that country, but is by no means yet extinct there, 

 as the British Museum contains specimens from Egypt. In 

 other parts of Africa, however, it is far more plentiful, and 

 but rarely visits Egypt in modern days, though Captain Shelley 

 not long ago received a specimen from Damietta, and Mr. W. 

 D. Gumming has met with the species at Fao in the Persian 

 Gulf in October. In Madagascar occurs a distinct form, with 

 a white eye (/. bernieri], and in India and China the Sacred 

 Ibis is replaced by an allied species, I. melanocephala. 



THE GLOSSY IBISES. GENUS PLEGADIS, 



Plegadis, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 82 (1829). 



Type, P. falcinellus (Linn.). 



The Ibises are divided into two sections, one with the tarsus 

 reticulated in front, and having numerous octagonal scales, the 

 other with the tarsus plated in front. To this latter section 

 belongs the genus Plegadis^ which is further distinguished 



