n 



86 



ALTllICIAL GUALLATOUES — IIERODIONES. 



H 



species, not including several of doubtful validity, or about one tliird of tliosc known). 

 Of tlic exotic species, Africa jmjsscsscs about nine (two of them in ('omnion witli 

 Southern Europe), Asia five, and Australia two. A very great diversity of form and 

 plumage is to be seen among tiie various species, some being trim and graceful in 

 their build, and others uncouth, with Vulture-like head and neck — some plain in 

 colors, while others are among the most brilliant of birds. The scarh^t jdumage of 

 iiWof/w its n<it'r is not surpassed in nature for purcness and intensity of color, and 

 tlio beautiful decomposed tertial i)lumes of Ibis a-thiopicus are scarcely excelled in 

 gracefulness. The species of Mol ijbdo2)huncs, Thrristicus, and Ccrcibls, however, 

 possess but little beauty. 



The family is divisible into two well-defined sections, which may be termed sub- 

 families, distinguished mainly by the character of the tarsal scutellation. They may 

 bo detined as follows : — 



Suh-iaiuily Ibidinae. Fioiit of the tnrsus covered with liexn^'onal sciiles. 

 Sub-fiunily Eudooiminae. Front of the tursus with large, transverse scutellic, urruiiged in a more 

 or less continuous single series. 



Both the above sub-families are represented in America, but only the latter in the 

 northern continent. The North American genera may be recognized by the follow- 

 ing characters : — 



SuD-FAMiLY EUDOt'IMINi^E.i — The Idises. 



Budocimus. Head of adult wholly naked anteriorly. Feathers of tlie pileum short, close, and 

 blended, and those of the neck not distnictly lanceolate. Colors plain white or red, with black 

 wing-ti])s, in adults, dull gray and white in young. 



Plegadia. Head of adult wholly feathered, except the lores ; feathers of the pileum distinctly 

 lanceolate and slightly elongated, fornwng a slightly rounded crest when erected. Colors 

 highly metallic, of varied tints ; in adult, metallic greeiush, bronze or purple above, plain 

 brown beneath, in yoiuig. 



■■A 



Genus EUDOCIMUS, Wagleii." 



Eudocimus, Waol. Isis, 1832, 1232 (typo, Tantalus ruber, LiNX.). 

 Gunra, "JoAS de Lakt.," Keu henii. Hamlb. 1851, p. xiv (same type). 

 "Paribis, Geoffroy." 

 Lcucibis, Keiciienb. Handb. 1851, p. xiv (typo, Tankdus aJbcr, Linn.). 



Gen. Char. — Bill moderately slender, attenuated toward the end, strongly decurved ; bare 

 portion of the tibia equal to er ra'ber shorter than tlie outer toe ; nuddle toe, with claw, shorter 

 than the tai'sus ; inner toe (withoi.i, claw) reaching to or a little beyond the subterminal articula- 

 tion of the middle toe ; outer toe reaching to or beyond the middle of the subterminal phalanx of 

 the middle toe ; hallux about etpial to the basal phalanx of the inner toe ; claws short, moderately 

 curved, that of the middle toe more or less bent outwardly toward the tip, its inner projecting 



* For a more comprehensive account of tlie birds of this family, the reader is referred to the following 

 special papers : — 



(1) Review of tlie Ibidhuc, or Suh-famihj of the Ibises, by D. G. Elliot, F.R.S.E., etc., in Proc. Zool. 

 Soc, London, 1877, pp. 477-510. 



(2) Systematische Ucbcrsieht der SchreilvOgcl {Orcssores), etc., von Dr. Ant. Eeichenow, in Jour, fiir 

 Om., 1877 (the Ibises on pp. 143-146). 



« Cf. Elliot, P. Z. S. 1877, 482 ; Scl. & Salv., Ibis, Oct. 1878, 449, foot-note. The latter say : 

 " Ibis was applied by Savigiiy in 1810 to the Sacred Ibis, before Vieillot used it for the former group 

 [i. e. /. alba end I. rubra], for which, consequently, Eudocimus of Wagler is the correct term," 



