GRALLATORIE 341 
and, when dead, it was embalmed, because, according to some, it 
devoured serpents, which otherwise might have been dangerous to 
the country; according to others, because it bore some relation 
in its plumage to one of the phases of the moon; while a third 
class of authors were of opinion that its appearance announced the 
overflow of the Nile*, The Tantalus of Africa was for a long time 
considered as the Ibis of the Egyptians; it is now known to be a 
bird of the present genus, as large as a hen, with white plumage, 
the tips of the wing-quills excepted, which are black; the barbs of 
the last coverts are slender, and of a black colour, with violet reflec- 
tions, and cover the tips of the wings and the tail. The bill and 
feet, as well as the naked part of the head and neck, are black; this 
part, at an early age, is covered with small blackish feathers, or, at 
all events, its upper surface is thus furnished. Found throughout 
Africat. 
Others have scutellated legs; their bill, most commonly, is more slender. 
Ib. rubra; Scol. rubra, L.; Tantal. ruber,Gm.; Enl. 80 and 81; 
Wils. VIII, Ixvi, 2. (The Red Ibis). A bird found in all the hot 
parts of America, remarkable for its bright red colour; the tips of 
the wing-quills are black. The young ones, at first covered with a 
blackish down, become cinereous, and, when ready to fly, whitish; 
in two years the red makes its appearance, and continues to increase 
in lustre with age. This species does not migrate, and lives in flocks 
in marshy spots in the vicinity of estuaries. It is easily domesti- 
cated. 
Scol. falcinellus, L.; Courlis vert, Enl. 819; Naum. Ed. I, Supp. 
28, Savig. Eg. Ois. pl. vii, f. 2. (The Green Ibis). A purple 
brown-red; mantle of a deep green; the head and neck of the young 
rearked with whitish dots. It is a heautiful bird of southern Europe, 
and of northern Africa, and most probably the species denominated 
by the ancients the Black Ibis}. 
Nomenivs §, Cuv. 
The Curlews have the bill arcuated like that of the Ibis, but it is more 
slender, and round throughout its length; the tip of the upper mandible 
* Savigny, Mém. sur I’ [bis. 
+ There is a neighbouring species in the Moluccas, which has a longer bill, the 
coverts less slender, and partly varied with white; long and pointed feathers on the 
upper part of the breast (bis molucca, Cuv.), and another in Bengal, with but slightly 
attenuated ash-coloured coverts (Jhis bengala, Cuv.). 
Add, Ib. papillosa, 'T. Col. 304;—Tant. calvus, Gm., Enl. 867 ;—Ibis nudifrons, Spix, 
86;—Ib. oxycercus, Id. 87;—T. albicollis, Gm., or Curicaca of Margr., Enl. 976;—- 
Tant. cayennensis, Gm., Enl. 820 ;—/bis plumbens, T. Col. 235 ;—Tant. melanopis, Gm., 
Lath. III, pl. lxxix;—Jb. chalcoptera, Vieill. Gal. 246, or Tunt. hogedash, Lath. 
+ Add, Tantalus albus and T. coco, Gm.; Enl. 915; 7. cristatus, Id.; Enl. 841;— 
Ibis leucopygus, Spix, 88, if it should not prove to he the young of the ruber ;— Zant. 
leucocephalus, Lath. ILI, pl. Ixxx, 2 (a). 
§ Numenius, derived from néoménie, new moon, on account of its crescent-sh ped 
bill. 
a) The T. fuscus of Gm. is the young of the 7. albus, Id.—Ene. Kp. 
young 
