DESCRIPTIVE LIST 95 



15. FAMILY CICONIID/E. STORKS 



Genus Mycteria (Linn.) 



76. Mycteria americana (Linn.}. WOOD IBIS. 



Ads. Head and neck bare; primaries, secondaries and tail glossy greenish black, rest of 

 plumage white. Im. Head more or less feathered; head and neck grayish brown, blacker 

 on the nape; rest of plumage as in the adult, but more or less marked with grayish; wings and 

 tail less greenish. L., 40.00; W., 18.00; Tar., 7.60; B. from N., 8.00. (Chap., Birds of E. 

 N. A.) 



Range. North Carolina southward to Argentina. 



Range in North Carolina. -Occurs irregularly in summer east of the mountains. 



These great birds occur in enormous flocks about the lakes and prairies of central 

 Florida, and may also be met with numerously as far north as South Carolina, 

 where Arthur T. Wayne records them as breeding in Colleton County (Birds of 

 South Carolina, p. 26). Like the White Ibis, they migrate northward in limited 

 numbers during the summer months. One was killed early in July, 1884, at Garner, 

 near Raleigh, and a number more were reported to have been seen at the time. 

 One was secured at Chapel Hill June 12, 1901; a third specimen was taken at 

 Buffalo's Pond in Wake County, July 4, 1906; and a fourth was killed June 29, 

 1910, near Sanford. A mounted specimen, said to have been killed on the Catawba 

 River some years ago, was observed by Wayne at Morganton (see Auk, Jan., 1910). 



16. FAMILY ARDEID/E. HERONS AND BITTERNS 



KEY TO GENERA 



1. Tail-feathers 10, very short, scarcely stiff er than the coverts; outer toe decidedly shorter 

 than the inner; claws lengthened, slightly curved. Bitterns. See 2. 



1. Tail-feathers 12, more lengthened and decidedly stiff er than the coverts; outer toe at least 



as long as the inner; claws comparatively short and strongly curved. Herons. See 3. 



2. Size small, wing less than 6. Ixobrychus. 



2. Size large, wing more than 9. Botaurus. 



3. Bill comparatively long and narrow, the culmen equal to at least four times the greatest 



depth of bill. See 4. 



3. Bill comparatively short and thick, the culmen not more than four times the greatest depth 



of bill. Night Herons. See 9. 



4. Color always entirely pure white. See 5. 



4. Color not wholly white; at least the tips of the wing-quills of another color. See 6. 



5. Wing 14 or more. Herodias. 



5. Wing less than 11. Egretta. 



6. Wing 17 or more. Ardea. 



6. Wing less than 12. See 7. 



7. Wing less than 8. Butorides. 



7. Wing more than 8. See 8. 



8. Culmen decidedly shorter than tarsus, the latter more than \y% times as long as middle toe 



without claw. Florida. 



8. Culmen equal to or longer than tarsus, the latter less than lJ- times as long as middle toe 



without claw. Hydranassa. 



9. Culmen about as long as tarsus; tarsus but little longer than middle toe. Nydicorax. 

 9. Culmen much shorter than tarsus; tarsus much longer than middle toe. Nyctanassa. 



Genus Botaurus (Steph.) 



77. Botaurus lentiginosus (Montag.}. BITTERN. 



Ads. A glossy black streak on each side of upper neck: top of head and back of neck bluish 

 slate, more or less washed with buffy; back brown, bordered and irregularly mottled with 

 buffy and buffy ochraceous, wing-coverts similarly marked, but ground color grayer; under- 

 parts creamy buff, the feathers all widely streaked with buffy brown, which is finely speckled 



