642 AVES—IBIS. 
sn 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 foct 
long. and has the shape of a spoon. 
THE LELSAa 
4 BA 



Tur 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 

1 Platalea nivea, Cuv. 
2 Ibis religiosi, Cuv. The genus Ibis has the bill long, slender, arched, broad at the 
base, tip depressed, obtuse, and rounded; upper mandible deeply furrowed in its whole 
length; nostrils near the base at the upper part of the bill, oblong, straight and perforated 
in the siembrane which covers the furrow ; the face, and frequently a part of the head and 
neck, naked; legs naked above the knee; the fore toes united as far as the first Jomt; tne 
ound toe long, and reaching the ground. 
