404 WOOD IBIS 



movement, resembling the Herons in this respect; and when wounded, they are very gen- 

 tle, seldom attempting to defend themselves. They are also easily tamed and I once saw 

 one in a cage, which was quite unsuspicious, feeding mostly upon small fishes, bread, and 

 cooked sweet potatoes, which it would take from the hand. The Roseate Spoonbills breed 

 early, usually in February or March, choosing islands in the nearly inaccessible swamps or 

 lakes of the interior, as nesting places, where they rear their young in perfect safety. 



FAMILY II. TANTALID^E. THE WOOD IBISES. 



Bill, about three times as long as head but not grooved. Furcula, long, wide at base, 

 not well-arched, but projected backward until it meets the tip of the keel. Marginal inden- 

 tations, two. 



The head is completely naked in adult specimens. The trachea is rounded, and the 

 larynx is simple, with a thin sterno-trachealis, but there are no other laryngeal muscles. 

 There is no tympaniform membrane but the os transversale is present and also a small sein- 

 ilunar membrane. The proventriculus is large, globular in form, and is provided with sim- 

 ple, oval glands. The stomach is not very muscular, and the fold of the duodenum is short, 

 inclosing a small pancreas. The intestines are small and long, but the coeca are very 

 short, being in fact merely rudimentary. 



GENCJS I. TANTALUS. THE WOOD IBISES. 



Members of this genus are all large, with the bill stout, otherwise the characters are the same as are given under Fam- 

 ily heading. Sexes, similar. There is but one species within our limits. 



TANTALUS LOCULATOK. 



Wood Ibis. 

 Tantalus loculator LINN., Syst. Nat., I; 1766, 240. 



DESCRIPTION. 



SP. CH. Form, robust. Size, large. Tongue, very short, '85 long, wide at base and tapering gradually to tip which 

 is rounded. 



COLOR. Adult. White throughout, with wings and tail very dark-brown, glossed with green. Head and neck, na- 

 ked, the latter with transverse ridges. Under tail coverts, greatly elongated and projecting beyond tip of tail. 



Young. Similar to the adult, but the neck and a part of the head are covered with dusky feathers; the under tail cov- 

 erts are not elongated, and the scapularies are brownish. Bill, horn-color, iris, brown, and feet, bluish, in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Readily known by the large size, and colors as described. Distributed, in summer, from Florida to -the Carolinas,and 

 up the Mississippi, as far as Southern Illinois. Winters in Florida. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of specimens from Florida. Length, 42*50; stretch, 61'00; wing, 18'50; tail, 4'75; bill, 7'75; tar- 

 sus, 7'25. Longest specimen, 45'00; greatest extent of wing, 62'00; longest wing, 19'00; tail. 5'00; bill, 8'50; tarsus, 7 50. 

 Shortest specimen, 44'00; smallest extent of wing, 60'00; shortest wing, 18-00; tail, 4-50; bill, 7*00; tarsus, 7'00. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND KGGS. 



Nesli, placed in high trees, composed of sticks loosely arranged. Eygs, one or two in number, rather elliptical in form, 

 chalky-white in color, occasionally spotted with pale reddish-brown. Dimensions from I'70x2 - 70 to l'75xS 75. 



HABITS 



The Wood Ibises are among the shyest birds found in Florida, and I have many times 

 tried to obtain a shot at them, but up to the present date, I have never even fired at one. 

 I have often marked down a flock of a dozen or more individuals when (hey alighted in a 



