THE WHITE IBIS 



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soar at a great height in a series of easy circles, and then often 

 give forth a hoarse croaking cry. They probably reach to a 

 greater elevation than any other of our birds, even soaring to 

 greater heights than the Swifts. 



Order Ardeipormes. 



Sub-order Platalem. Ibis and Spoonbills. 

 Nostrils schizognathous. Sternum with four posterior 

 notches. 



Family Ihidicke. 

 Bill much recurved ; nasal groove linear, produced nearly 

 to tip of bill. 



Genus Ibis. 

 Tarsus reticulated in front with many hexagonal scales. 

 Plumes of inner secondaries with disconnected webs, highly 

 ornamental. 



The White Ibis. 

 Ibis molucca. 

 Australia, New Guinea, Ceram, Waigiou, Salawati. 

 White; inner secondaries mottled with black; primaries tipped with 

 black; on the fore-neck drooping narrow plumes; head and upper half of 

 neck bare and with the bill slaty black; in young birds the head and 

 neck are covered with feathers until the third year, when they are shed; 

 back of the head and neck crossed by ten narrow bands of pink; on 

 crown of head some oval spots of the same colour. Total length 30 inches, 

 culmen 7. .5, wing 14.5, tail 5.1, tarsus i.3. 



Nest an almost flat structure composed of green twigs, 

 rushes or flags, made by treading down the vegetation in the 

 swamps on which their nests are placed. They usually build in 

 companies ; sometimes many thousands together. The clutch, 

 generally three, is white in colour, the inside lining being light- 

 green. They measure about 2.55 x 1.68 inch. 



The White Ibis is an invaluable protector of crops and 

 wholesale destroyer of insects, and it is folly not to protect the 

 bird to the uttermost. We gladly quote in this connection from 

 an article in the "Victorian Naturalist," by a practical 

 Victorian politician, Mr. Frank Madden. After pointing out 



