OICONIID^ PSBUDOTANTALUS 49 



length of the middle toe and claw, covered with elongate hexagonal 

 scales. 



Three species of this genus have been described, one ranging 

 over Africa, and two over Southern Asia as far as China and the 

 Malayan Islands. 



583. Pseudotantalus ibis. Wood Ibis. 



Tantalus ibis, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 241 (1766) ; Kirk, Ibis, 

 1864, p. 334 ; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 318 (1867) ; Gurney in Anders- 

 son'a B. Damaral. p. 296 (1872) ; id. Ibis, 1873, p. 256 [Durban Har- 

 bour] ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 211; Holub d Pelzehi Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 

 290 (1882) ; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 408 (1898) ; Flech, Journ. 

 Ornith. 1894, p. 386; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 160 (1896); Wood- 

 ward Bros. Natal B. p. 202 (1899) ; Beichenoiv, Vog. Afr. i, p. 333 

 (1901). 



Pseudotantalus ibis, Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. p. 735 (1884) ; id. 

 Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 327 (1898). 



Description. Adult. — General colour above white, with a rosy 

 wash throughout ; the wing-coverts with a strong subterminal bar 

 of crimson-lake as well i primaries, their coverts, secondaries and 

 tail black, strongly glossed with metallic green ; crown of the head, 

 sides of the face and throat bare of feathers ; neck all round and 

 under parts throughout white ; the axillaries and under tail-coverts 

 white tinged with pink, while the under wing-coverts are much 

 more strongly marked with a rich crimson subterminal band. 



Iris brown ; bill golden-yellow ; bare parts of the face red, with 

 a narrow border of yellow ; feet brick-red, toes black. 



Length about 46-0 : wing 21-0 ; tail 7-0 ; culmen 9-5 ; tarsus 8-5 ; 

 middle toe and claw 4-5. 



In the young bird the back, wings and neck are brown, and the 

 bare part of the face is yellow. 



Distribution. — The Wood Ibis is found throughout tropical 

 Africa from the Gambia and Nubia southwards. It also inhabits 

 Madagascar. 



It is a rare bird south of the Zambesi, and is apparently only 

 a straggler from the north, but it is not uncommon along that river 

 and its afifluents, and in the districts about Lake Ngami. 



The following are recorded localities ; Gape Colony-^Knysna, 

 February (Stark), Port Elizabeth, rare (Brown), Sterkstroom (Albany 

 Mus.), Nelspoort, in Beaufort West, twice procured (Layard); Natal 

 — Durban Harbour (Ayres) ; Transvaal — Brakfontein in Marico 



4 VOL. IV. 



