CICONIID^—CICONIINJE: 8T0BKS. 653 



Just as we saw the American Spoonbill distinguislied from Platalea of the Old World, so 

 does the American Wood Ibis differ from Old World Tantalus to a marked degree in the 

 structure of the windpipe; but this time it is our bird which has that organ simple, it being 

 remarkably complicated in the other. In Tantalus ibis, typical of the genus, the trachea is 

 several times folded and doubled upon itself in the thorax. In Tantalus loculator, the trachea 

 is short, straight, and simple in its lower part, with numerous reduced and modified rings, and 

 flattened from side to side, producing a ridge in front. It has been made type of a genus 

 Tantalides, but that name being preoccupied, a new one seems to be required. 



255. TAN'TALOPS. (Gr. TdvToKos, Lat. Tantalus, a mythical character; oii^, ops, aspect.) 

 American Wood Stork or Wood "Ibis.'' Character as above. In addition: Whole head 

 and part of the neck bare, rugous and scaly in the adult. Nasal fossse not continued beyond the 

 nostrils. Anterior toes webbed at base. Tibise bare for half their length. Claws com- 

 pressed, but obtuse. Head feathered in the young. Sexes alike. Color white and black. 



648. T. locula'tor. (Lat. hcus, a place ; loculus, a little place, but qu. loculator in its application 

 to this bird? Fig. 455.) American Wood Stork. Wood Ibis. Colorado Turkey. 

 Adult (J 9 : Plumage white, the wing-quills, primary coverts, alula, and tail, glossy black. 

 The bald head hvid bluish and yellowish. Bill dingy yellowish. Legs blue, becoming blackish 

 on the toes, the webs tinged with yellow. Iris dark brown. Length nearly 4 feet ; extent 

 5.50 feet; wing 1.50; tail 0.50; bill 9 inches, 2 or more deep at base; tibise bare 6.00; 

 tarsus 8.00 ; middle toe and claw 4.75. Weight 10 or 12 lbs. ? smaller than $. Young: 

 Head downy-feathered; the plumage dark gray, vnth blackish wings and tail; plumage 

 whitening and head becoming bald after the first month. S(juth Atlantic and Gulf States, 

 and across in cqjrrespondiug latitudes to the Colorado River, where abundant. N. to the 

 Carolinas; up the Mississippi to the Ohio; casually straying to Penn., N.Y., and even New 

 England (f).i W. I., Mex., C. and S. Am. Kesident in the S. States; abundant; gregarious; 

 frequents the most thickly wooded swamps and bayous, fairly swarming in its heronries; flight 

 performed with alternate flapping and sailing; at times mounts high in air and performs the 

 most beautiful evolutions, with motionless wings, like a turkey buzzard. Eggs 2-3, elliptical 

 in contour, shell rough with flaky substance ; color white ; size 2.75 X 1.75. 



59. Subfamily CICONIIN/E: True Storks. 



Bill as above described, but end not decurved (straight or recurved). Nostrils nearly 

 lateral. Toes short, the middle less than half the tarsus. Lateral toes nearly equal. Hind 

 toe not insistent. Claws short, broad, obtuse, flattened like nails. Several Old World and 

 two American genera, Dissowa (D. magua/ri) and Mycteria. 



256. MYCTE'BIA. (Gr. jivKrrjp, muhter, the snout; fivKTJipi^io, mukterizo, I turn up the nose.) 

 Jabirus. Bill immensely large, recurved. Whole head and neck bare, except a hairy patch 

 on the occiput. Tail not peculiar. (In Dissowra, bUl moderate, straight, head mostly feathered, 

 taU forked, and its under coverts stiffened and lengthened, resembling reotrices.) 



654. M. america/na. AMERICAN Jabiru. Adult : Plumage entirely white. Bill, legs, and feet, 

 and bare skin of head and neck, black, the neck with a broad bright red collar round the lower 

 portion. Immature (transition plumage) : Rump, upper tail-coverts and tail, white ; rest of 

 upper parts, including feathered portion of lower neck, soft light brownish-gray, irregularly 

 mixed, except on lower neck, with white feathers of the adult livery ; lower parts entirely 

 white. Bill, etc., colored as in the adult. Wing 24.50-26.00 ; tail 0.50 ; oulmen 9.75-12.30 ; 

 depth of bill through base about 2.50; tarsus 11.35-11.50; middle toe 4.20-4.50. Tropical 

 America, N. to Texas. 



1 Mr. Allen informs me that the alleged New England case is doubtless erroneous (Bull. Nuttall Club, viii, 

 July, 1883, p. 187). 



