642 



AVES — IBIS. 



ia summer. It is however rarely seen to the northward of Altamaha river; 

 and even along the peninsula of Florida is a rare bird ; in Jamaica and 

 several other of the West India islands, Mexico, and Guiana, it is more com- 

 mon, but confines itself chiefly to the seashore and the mouths of rivers. 

 It wades about in quest of shell-fish, marine insects, small crabs, and fish. 

 In pursuit of these, it occasionally swims and dives. 



This bird is of a beautiful pink color, with a mixture of black at the lower 

 part of the neck. The most common species, however, is that which bears 

 the name of the white spoonbill,^ from its plumage, save that in some rare 

 exceptions it is entirely white. This bird is about the size of a heron, but 

 somewhat shorter in the neck and legs. The bill is more than half a foot 

 long, and has the shape of a spoon. 



THE I B I S .2 



The Egyptian ibis, so famous in history and mythology, is larger than the 

 stork, measuring from thirty to forty inches in length. The bill is seven 



' Platalea nivea, Cuv. 



2 77>/s religiosa, Cuv. The genus Ibis has the hill long, slender, arched, broad at the 

 base, tip depressed, obtuse, and rounded ; upper mandilde deeply furrowed in its whole 

 lengtli ; nostrils near tlie base at the upper part of the bill, oblong, straight and perforated 

 in the membrane which covers the furrow ; the face, and frequently a part of the head and 

 neck, naked; logs naked aliove the knee ; the fore toes united as far as the first joint ; tne 

 hind toe loasf, and reaching the ground. 



