EIDGWAY ON AMERICAN HEllODIONES. 251 



firm, with very rigid shafts; longer lower tail-coverts extraordinarily 

 developed, resembling true rectrices, extending beyond the tail proper, 

 and appearing as a second tail, of rounded form, below the upper 

 fbrked one!- 



Affinities. — This genus is very similar to Cloonia, but differs very de- 

 cidedly in the character of the tail and its lower coverts, which assume a 

 form and relationship altogether peculiar, so far as this group is con- 

 cerned,, unless matcbxid by some of the several Old World forms which 

 I have not seen. In Ciconia, the tail is of normal form, being rounded, 

 the feathers broad and moderately firm, with the longer lower coverts soft 

 and loose, and falling considerably short of the end of the rectrices. In 

 this genus, however, both the tail and its lower coverts are so modified 

 that it is at first almost impossible to tell which is the true tail ; indeed, 

 all authors whom I have been able to consult in the matter describe the 

 black stiff feathers as the upper coverts, and the longer, softer, but still 

 firm feathers beneath them, with a rounded posterior outline, as the 

 tail J in fact, it was only after the most careful examination, that I de- 

 termined the former to be the true rectrices ! 



