488 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE IBIDIN.E. [Juiie 5, 



Ibis religiosa, Schleg. & Poll. Rech. Fami. Madag. (1868) p. 126. 



Geronticus bei-nieriy Gray, Handl. B. (1871) pt. iii. p. 40. 



Hub. Madagascar. 



Precisely like the I. (Ethiopica in colour of plumage, but appa- 

 rently distinct, or at all events a geographical race, distinguished 

 from its near relative by the much less extent of bare skin on the 

 neck and the white iris. Tertials black with a bluish gloss, their 

 webs open and diminished. Entire rest of plumage pure white. 

 Bill black, feet and legs black. 



Entire length 26 inches; wing \^\ inches; tail 7 inches; bill 

 along culmen 5^ inches ; tarsus 3 inches. 



3. Ibis melanocephala. 



Black-headed Ibis, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp. p. 240. 



Tantalus melanocephalus, Lath. Ind. Orn. (1790) vol. ii. p. 709. 

 sp. 21 : Wagl. Isis (1829) p. 760. 



Ibis melanocephala, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. (1817) vol. xvi. 

 p. 23; id. Ency. Meth. (1823) tom. iii. p. 1150; Wagl. Syst. A v. 

 (1827); Jard. & Selby, Orn. 111. pi. 120; Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. 

 (1857) vol. iii. p. 151 ; Schleg. Mus. P.-Bas. (1863) livr. 4, p. 14 ; 

 Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1873) pp. 467, 638. 



Numenius de Macei, Cuv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. (1805) vol. iv. 

 p. 125. 



Ibis leucon, Temm. Plan. Col. no. 481. 



Ibis macei, Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 3. 



Ibis bengala, Cuv. MS. Paris Mus.; Less. Trait. Orn. (1831) 

 p. 568. 



Ibis religiosa, Sykes' Cat. p. 188. sp. 1. 



Threskiornis melanocephalus, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. Asiat. Soc. 

 (1849) p. 275 ; Gray, Gen. B. (1849) vol. iii. p. 567; Jerd. B. Ind. 

 (1864) vol. iii. p. 768. sp. 941; Swinh. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1863) 

 p. 318. sp. 320; Blyth, Ibis (1867) p. 174, (1870) p. 175; Gray, 

 Ilandl. B. (1871) pt. iii. p. 40. sp. 10222; Holdsw. Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. (1872) p. 479. sp. 290 ; Legge, Ibis (1875) p. 404. 



Ibis propinqua, Swinh. Ibis (1861) p. 261 ; id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 (1870) p. 428, (1871) p. 44. 



Ilab. India generally; scarce in Arakan (B/yM); Java (.ScA/e^e^); 

 Ceylon {Holdsworth). 



I ])lace the Ibis propinqua, Swinhoe, as a synonym of /. tnelano- 

 cephn/a, as I do not perceive in his description (/. c.) any difference 

 from the present species to entitle it to a separate specific rank. The 

 "pectoral feathers, long and pointed like in Herodias garzetta," I 

 do not consider of any specific value, as I find specimens of /. mela- 

 nocephala, from Bengal and Pondicherry respectively, in the Paris 

 Museum, with these lengthened feathers as well as without them, the 

 one from Bengal having them very long and conspicuous, the other 

 not having a trace of them. The latter specimen is Cuvier's type of 

 Ibis bengala (MS. Mus. Paris) ; the former is marked as Ibis macei, 

 Wagler. These feathers are assumed in the breeding-season, as 

 stated by l^lytb, and therefore cannot be accepted as indicating a 



