66 BRITISH BIRDS. 



four inches long, and brown; from the bill to the 

 eye bare, and dusky green ; the head and neck are 

 chesnut, verging to brown on the former, where the 

 feathers have pale edges; the upper parts of the 

 body are glossy green, appearing bronzed in dif- 

 ferent lights ; the breast, belly, and under parts are 

 brown, with a gloss of green gold on the breast; 

 quills and tail darker than the back, and with very 

 little gloss; legs dusky blue: between each toe a 

 small membrane at the base/' The bills of these 

 birds, like those of the Curlews and Godwits, vary 

 in length. Our specimen measured from the tip to 

 the feathers of the brow four inches and three 

 quarters ; from the tread of the foot to the knee is 

 about the same length: their legs are long, and 

 bare above the knees ; their toes are also long, and 

 the hinder one so placed as to bear its whole length 

 upon the ground. 



The Green Ibis (Tantalus viridis), and the Bay 

 Ibis (Tantalus Falcinellus), are now understood to 

 be the present bird in different stages of its pro- 

 gress to maturity. The female differs in nothing 

 but her smaller bulk. 



They frequent the borders of rivers and lakes, and 

 feed upon insects, worms, fresh water shell-fish, 

 vegetable matters, &c. They breed in Asia, but 

 their place and mode of nidification are not known. 



They are regularly migratory in Egypt, and are 

 met with in most of the central and southern parts 

 of Europe. Temminck says he shot, in 1812, two 

 adult males on the sea-shore of Holland, which 

 differed in no respect from those sent to him from 

 Egypt, and which had been shot during the French 

 campaigns in that country. 



