3i6 



HERONS, STORKS, AND JBISES. 



Ibises. 



recurved process behind its articulation with the skull, instead of being truncated 

 as in the storks ; the skull has a pair of small vacuities on the occipital surface ; 

 and the nasal apertures are in the form of extremely long slits (shizorhinal), in 

 place of being ovals. Finally, the furcula resembles that of the storks. All these 

 birds associate in large companies, and differ from the typical members of the 

 preceding family in their habit of probing about with their beaks in water in 

 search of food, till they come in contact with some object, which is then seized. 

 They nest in trees, and lay white eggs. 



Owing to the general interest attaching to the sacred ibis, and 

 likewise from the gorgeous coloration of the scarlet ibis of America, 

 the ibises are some of the best known representatives of the order under considera- 

 tion. These birds, of which there are several genera, form a subfamily characterised 



by the slender and nearly 



cylindrical beak, which 

 tapers gradually towards 

 the tip, and is more or 

 less arched from its base. 

 In all of them the head is 

 more or less bald, although 

 occasionally only the lores 

 are naked ; and they 

 generally have plume-like 

 scapular feathers at the 

 hinder end of the back. 

 The sacred ibis of Africa 

 {Ibis cethiopica) is the 

 type of a genus char- 

 acterised by the very 

 long and moderately 

 stout bill ; the long wing, 

 in which the second 

 quill is slightly longer than the third; the short, twelve-feathered tail; and 

 the general white hue of the plumage. The African species attains a length 

 of about 29 inches, and has the naked head and neck black, while the plumose 

 feathers of the back and the tips of the quills are greenish black; the rest of 

 the plumage being white, tinged here and there with buff. It is represented 

 by the closely-allied black headed ibis (/. Tnelanocephala) in India; while in 

 Madagascar there is Bemier's ibis (/. bernieri), distinguished by the much smaller 

 extent of the naked black portion of the neck ; and a third species (/. stricti- 

 'pennis) inhabits Australia. The Japanese ibis (Nippenoa nippon) differs by 

 having only the face bare of feathers ; it inhabits both Japan and China. 



Although so common in the country of the Pharaohs during its times of 

 greatness, the sacred ibis is now unknown in Egypt ; and Leith Adams has doubts 

 whether it was ever indigenous there. As he observes : " There could have been no 

 difficulty in procuring individuals from the shores of the Red Sea ; and to a people 

 so well practised in taming wild animals (as were the ancient Egyptians), we may 



HEAD OF bernier's IBIS. (From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1870.) 



