CICONIID.'li; — THK STORKS — MYCTRUIA. 79 



tarsus, much compressed, the lateral outlines elongate-conical, but both curved upward for the 

 terminal half (the gonys most so) ; depth of the bill at the Uise equal to about two ninths tlie 

 ItMijitli of the culmen ; gonys considerably longer than the mandibular rami ; nostrils small, lon- 

 gitudinal, in the form of an elongated ellipse, without membrane, but overhung by a siiarp project- 

 ing liony edge. Legs vury long ; miildle toe a little less than one third the tarsus ; lateral toes 

 considerably shorter, the outer a little the longer ; hallux about half the length of the inner toe, 

 its articulation elevated decidedly above that of the anterior toes ; middle toe united to both the 

 lateral toes at the base by well-develojied webs, the outer of which is the larger, these webs extend- 

 ing, narrowly, along each side of the toes for their whole length ; claws short, nail-like, or flattened 

 aliove and with liroad rounded ends ; bare portion of the tibia much more than one half the tarsus ; 

 legs covered everywhere and unilorndy with small, longitudinal, hexagonal scales ; toes with 

 transverse scutella: for terminal ball'. Plumage rather hard and compact above, looser below, the 

 feathers of the posterior parts with tlieir webs somewhat decomposed; upper greater wing-coverts 

 and tertials well developed, long, broad, and compact, the latter extending beyond the tips of the 

 primaries, as well as much beyond the end of the tail; i)rimaries very stiff, their inner webs 

 simuited near the iMse.^ Tail short, a little more than one third as long as the wing, even, the 

 feathers broad, round-ended, and moderately stiff. Occiinit and u]iper part of the nape covered by 

 a patch of rather short and sparse hair-like feathers, the rest of the head and neck bare. 



This genus, as defined above, embraces a single species belonging to tropical America, the 

 .1/. americana, Gmel. ex LixN. More or less nearly related Old World genera are Ephij)}no- 

 rhynchm, Bosap. (type, Mijcteria senegalensis, Shaw), Xmorhyuclms, Bonap. (type, M. austraiis, 

 Shaw), and Lcptoptilos, Less, (type, Ciconia crurmnifera, Cdvier). These I have not been able 

 to examine. 



Mycteria americana. 



THE JABIEU. 



Mycteria mnericann, Linn. S. N. cd. 10, 1758, 140, no. 1 (part-) ; ed. 12, I. 1706, 232 (part, excl. 



di.ignosis, which ^ Euxemtra marjuari). — Gmel. S. Jf. 1. 1788, Glti. — Lath. Iml. Orn. 11. 



17yO, 070. — Boxap. Consp. II. 1855, 107. — Gray. Handl. IIL 1871, 35, no. 10190. — ScL, & 



Salv. Norn. Neotr. 1873, 12G. — Kidow. Noni. N. Am. B. ISSl, no. 499. — CouEs, Clieck List, 



2d ed. 1882, no. 654. 

 Lc JaUru, dc Cayenne, Buff. PI. Eid. 1770-84, pi. 817 (adult). 

 American Jahim, Lath. Syuop. 111. i. 1785, 22, pi. 75. 

 Ciconia mycteria, BuRM. Th. Bras. III. 1856, 418. 



Hab. Tropical America, south to Buenos Ayres ; north, casually, to Southern Texas. No West 

 Indian record. 



Sp. Char. Adult (No. 17105, "South America"): Plumage entirely white; bill, leg.s, and 

 feet, with naked portion of head and neck, black ; crop, and lower portion of neck all round, 

 reddish (bright red in life). AVing, 26.00 ; taU, 9.50 ; culmen, 12.30 ; depth of bill at base, 

 2.50 ; tarsus, 11.50 ; middle toe, 4.20 ; bare portion of tibia, 6.50. Young, transition, plumage 

 (No. 874S5, La Palma, Costa Rica, April 21, 1882 ; C. C. Nutting) : Pileuni and occiput clothed 

 with dusky black hair-like feathers, these longest on the occiput, where they form somewhat of a 

 bushy crest ; feathered portion of lower neck light brownish gray ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and 

 tail, white ; rest of upper part soft brownish gray, irregularly mixed with pure white feathers (of 

 the adult livery), these most inunerons among the lesser wing-coverts and anterior scapulars ; 

 primaries white, tinged with gray at ends. Lower parts entirely white. Bill, all the naked 



' Tlie wings of the only specimen at present accessible to us are much damaged, so that the wing- 

 formula and the exact character of the outline of the inner webs of the quills cannot be ascertained satis- 

 factorily. 



^ Linii.'eus's diagnosis, " Magnitudo Ciconire, alba, rendgibus rcctiicibusque nigro-purpui-ascentibu.s," 

 will not apply at all to this species, but is oliviously a])plicable to Eio-cnura magnari (see page 77). The 

 generic diagnosis, however, aiiplies to itycteria, as do also most of the references cited. 



