340 BIRDS, 
FAMILY IV. 
—<— 
LONGIROSTRES. 
This family is composed of a multitude of Waders, most of which were 
included in the genus Scolopax of Linnezus, and the remainder confound- 
ed in that of his Tringa, though partly in opposition to the character of 
this genus, which consists in a thumb too short to reach the ground. A 
small number were placed among the Plovers on account of the total ab- 
sence of athumb. All these birds have nearly the same form, the same 
habits, and frequently even the same distribution of colours, which ren- 
der them very difficult of being distinguished one from another. Their 
general character is a long, slender, and weak bill, the use of which is 
restricted to searching in the mud for worms and insects; the different 
gradations in the form of this bill serve to divide them into genera and 
subgenera. 
According to his own principles, Linneus should have united most of. 
these birds in the great genus 
Scortorax, Lin. - 
Which we shall divide as follows, according to the variation in the form 
of the bill*. The 
Isis, Cuv. 
The Ibis, which have been separated by us from the Tantalus of 
Gmelin, because their bill, though arcuated like that of Tantalus, is much 
weaker, and has no emargination near its point; the nostrils also, perfo- 
rated near the back of its base, are severally prolonged in a groove, which 
extends to the end. Besides, this bill is tolerably thick and almost square 
at the base, and some part of the head or even of the neck is always des- 
titute of feathers. The external toes are considerably palmated at the 
base, and the thumb is sufficiently large to bear upon the ground. 
Some of them have short and reticulated legs; they are usually 
the stoutest, and have the largest bill. 
Ibis religiosa, Nob.; Abou-Hannés, Bruce, It., pl. 35; Tantalus 
ethiopicus, Lath.; L’adulta, Cuv., Oss. Foss. tom. I, and the young, 
Savign. Descript. de | Egypte, Hist. Nat. des Ois., pl. 7, (The Sacred 
Ibis), is the most celebrated species. It was reared in the temples 
of ancient Egypt, with a degree of respect borderiug.on adoration ; 
* This is another of these distinctions and names borrowed by Vieill. (Gal. 246) 
without any acknow:edgment, although my memoir upon the Ibis, in which I esta- 
blish it, is dated fifteen years prior to any of his writings upon birds. 
