158 The Stork-like Birds 



black skin, from which arise two scarlet bands of loose skin which extend down 

 to the chest. "When the bird is wounded or enraged, this loose red skin is said 

 to swell out like a bladder, changing to an intensely fiery scarlet hue." It is 

 said to nest on high* trees, and to lay blue-green eggs. 



Close to the last-mentioned species are two Old World forms that we have 

 space to hardly more than mention. These are the Saddle-billed Stork, or 

 Jabiru (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis), of tropical Africa, which is character- 

 ized by a saddle-shaped black space in the middle of an otherwise scarlet bill, 

 and the Black-necked Jabiru (Xenorhynchus asiaticus) , of northern Australia, 

 New Guinea, and the Indian and Malayan peninsulas. It is similar to the 

 other, but is without the "saddle" across the bill. 



Shell Storks. The Open-bills, or Shell Storks (Anastvmus} , are among the 

 smallest of the group, being only twenty-eight or thirty inches in length. They 

 are known at once by the fact that the bill gapes widely toward' the tip, leav- 

 ing, as suggested by the name, an open space of considerable extent in the 

 terminal half of the bill. It was supposed that this resulted from wearing away 

 in the process of securing their food, but it has been asserted on good authority 

 that the young birds exhibit the same feature, and hence it is structural. They 

 live on shell-fish, such as fresh-water mollusks, whence of course their second 

 name. Of the two species known, the Indian (A. oscitans] is pure white both 

 above and below, with the exception of the wings and their primary coverts, 

 and the feathers of the tail, which are black with purple and green reflections. 

 The African species (.4. lamettigerus) is largely black with metallic green and 

 purple reflections, the feathers of the crown, throat, breast, and under parts 

 with narrow horny tips. The Open-bills nest among the reeds in marshes or 

 occasionally in trees, returning year after year to their old nesting sites. 



Wood Ibises. The last members of the family to be considered are the 

 Wood Ibises, or Wood Storks. Although it seems now to be pretty definitely 

 settled that their affinities are with the Storks, they form, nevertheless, a sort 

 of connecting link between them and the Ibises. By many students the charac- 

 ters of the Wood Ibises are regarded of sufficient importance to entitle them 

 to be ranked as a family or subfamily of equal value as that including the 

 Storks, but it perhaps is best in the present instance to consider^ them as a well- 

 marked group of the Ciconiida. 



The Wood Ibises are large Stork-like birds, with long legs and a long neck 

 and beak, the latter being thickened at the base, but much attenuated toward 

 the tip, where it is turned downward, much as in the true Ibises. The legs are 

 covered with small hexagonal scales, while the toes are long, very slender, and 

 connected basally by a well-developed web. The plumage is compact above 

 but rather loose below; the wings are long and broad, the second, third, and 

 fourth quills being nearly equal in length, while the tail is short, or moderately 

 long, and composed of twelve broad, strong feathers. 



Only four species of Wood Ibises are known, these being separable into two 

 genera, Tantalus, which includes the single American species, and Pseudo- 

 tantalus, which embraces the three Old World forms. In the first, the adult 



