EUDOClMtrS. — PLEGADIS. 193 



In habits this bird much resembles a Curlew, procuring its food on the mud-flats 

 both by night and day, according to the tides, and travelling twenty or thirty miles to 

 suitable places for this purpose. Like other Ibises and Herons, the present species 

 is fond of performing evolutions in the air, and is of powerful flight. 



The eggs are dull white, with a greenish tinge, spotted with reddish-brown. 



2. Eudocimus ruber. 



The Red Curlew, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carol, i. p. 84, t. 84 \ 



Tantalus ruber, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 241 '. 



Ibis rubra, Dresser, Ibis, 1866, p. 32 '. 



Guara rubra, A. O. U. Check-1. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. p. 67 *. 



Eudocimus ruber, Sharps, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 41 '. 



Scarlatimis, scapis remigum dimidiatim albis ; primariis quatuor externis ad apicem purpurascenti-nigris ; 



fronte basali, loris, regione faoiali et gutture summo nudia carneo-rubris : rostro nigricanti-brunneo, ad 



basin carneo ; pedibus carneis. Long, tota 23'0, al83 9'8, caudas 3"5, rostrii5-0, tarsi 3-9. (Descr. avis 



adiilti ex Guiana. Mus. Brit.) 

 Juv. Brunnens, dorso postico, uropygio et snpraoaudalibus albis ; remigibus brunneis, intus albicantibiis ; 



rectricibus brunneis, ad basin albis ; pileo undique et gutture toto obscure albo striolatis, plumis albido 



margin atis ; corpora reliquo subtus cum subalaribus et axillaribus albis. 



Hab. NoETH America, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. — Mexico, 'JMatamoros {^de 

 Dresser^). — Guiaxa^; Venezuela; Amazonia S; Greater Antilles ^ 



The Scarlet Ibis is said to have occurred in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, but it 

 is not included in the standard work on the Birds of North America of Messrs. Baird, 

 Brewer, and Eidgway ; and in the second edition of the 'Check-list' (1895) it is 

 stated that the species has not been recently recorded from the United States. 

 Mr. Dresser was assured that E. ruber had been seen at Matamoros, on the Eio Grande, 

 during the winter months ; but no specimens were procured, neither has there been any 

 confirmation of the Mexican habitat during the thirty-six years which have elapsed 

 since he wrote. 



PLEGADIS. 



Plegadis, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 82 (1829) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 29 (1898). 



This genus is closely allied to the preceding, the members of which have the tarsus 

 plated in front, and a similar short tail, but the head in Plegadis is completely feathered 

 and the plumage metallic. 



Three species are known : the Glossy Ibis (P. falcinellus), which is widely distri- 

 buted over the Old World and occurs also in the Eastern United States ; P. guarauna, 

 ranging from the Southern United States over the greater part of the Neotropica' 

 Region and southward to Patagonia ; and P. ridgwayi, of Peru and Bolivia. 



BIOL, centk.-amer., Aves, Vol. III., January 1902. 25 



