CICOXIID-E — THE STORKS. 77 



Synopsis of the American Genera. 



Sub-family CICONIINJ*;. — The Tuue Storks. 



1. Euxenura.^ Bill moderately huge, its upper and lower outlines straight throughout; 



uiitirL- head and neck leathered, except the lores and a bare strip along each side ol' tlie 

 throat. Tail abbrcnated and dteplij forked, the feathers very rigid, the lower tail-coverts 

 elorujated (extending beyond the true tail), and stiffened, so as to resemble true rcctrices I 

 (type, Ardca magnari, Gmel.). 



2. Mycteria. Bill enormously large, the terminal half recirrved. Entire head and ]reck 



naked, except a longitudinal hairy patch on the occiput. Tail and tail-coverts normal 

 (type, Mycteria americana, Gmel. nee LlNX.'^). 



Sun-FAMiLT TANT.\LIN.'K. — The Wood Ibises. 



3. Taatalus.2 Adult with the whole head and upper half of the neck naked, the skin hard 



and scurfy ; crown covered with a quadrate, or somewhat shield-shaped, smooth horny 

 plate, and skin of nape trans\-ertfely wrinkled, or corrugated. Nostrils sub-liasal ; tertials 

 longer than primaries, and with their webs compact or normal (t3'pe, Tantalus loculator, 

 Linn ). 



4. Pseudotantalus. Adult with only the fore part of the head naked, the hinder part and 



entire neck densely feathered ; naked skin of fore part of head smooth. Nostrils strictly 

 basal ; tertials shorter than primaries, and with their webs somewhat decomposed. Bill, 

 legs, and tail very much longer, and basal outline of the bill of different contour (type, 

 Tantalus ibis, LiNN.). 

 The Wood Ibises form a very natural group uf about Jive species, usually included in the single 

 genus Tantalus, inhabiting, like their kindred, the Storks, Jabirus, and Adjutants, the warmer 



' Genus EuxEXur.A, Kitlgway. 



Ciconia (part), Buiss. Orn.V. 1760, 369, no. 3. — Bo.n'ap. Consp. II. 1855, 104, et AucT. 

 Ardea (part), Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 623. 



Euxcnura, RiDGW. Ball. U. S. Geol. & Gcog. Survey Terr. lY. no. 1, Feb. 5, 1878, 250 (type, 

 Ardea maguari, Gmel). 

 Tliis genus is very decidedly distinct from Dissoura, C.veaxis (type, Ardea episcojms, BoDD. ), the only 

 resemblance between them, in addition to the usual Ciconine cliaiacter.s, consisting in the similar form of 

 the tail. 



2 Wliile giving a correct diagnosis of his genus Mijclcria, with J/, americana as type, Linnaeus (S. N. 

 I. 1766, 233) describes as the latter, in unmistakable terms, the birds afterward named Ardca maguari 

 by Gmelin. The references given by Linnreus, however, refer mainly to the true Mycteria I 



' The association of the Tantalinm with the Storks, ,as has latterly been done by several authors, seems 

 a very proper procedure, even the external .structure showing clearly that such are the true affinities of the 

 group. The internal structure aflfords still more conclusive testimony to this effect, as the following 

 scheme, adapted from Garrod (Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1875, p. 301), may 

 show : — 



CicoNiiDiE (including Tnutalus). Ibidid^ (including Plataleida:). 



1. Skull holorhinal. 1. Skull schizorhinal. 



2. Angle of the mandible truncated. 2. Angle of the mandible produced and recurved. 



3. Pcctoralis major muscle in two layers, — a sn- 3. Pccloralis major muscle simple, not separable 



perficial one, and a deep one, easily separable into distinct layers, 



from the other. 



i. Accessory femoro-cauda I nmscle absent. 4. Accessory /cworo-cdMcfct? muscle well developed. 



5. Scmitcndhiosus muscle tendinous for its distal 5. Semitendrnosics muscle muscular throughout. 



half. 



6. " No slip leaves the biceps cnbiti muscle to join 0. "A small muscular belly is sent from the bicc]>s 



the teiisor jiatagii longus." cubiti to the tendon of the tensor jiatagii lon- 



gus muscle." 

 Professor Garrod adds to the above tabulation of the diagnostic characters of the Ciconiidm and Ibidida:, 

 that "There are many other structural peculiarities, which make it perfectly certain that Tantalus is a 

 member of the Ciconiida;, and not an aberrant one, either." 



