76 Birds of Colorado 
Scarlet Ibis. Guara rubra. 
A.O.U. Checklist no [185]—Colorado Records—Lowe 94, p. 324; 
Cooke 97, pp. 60, 156 ; 97a, p. 316; 98, p. 183. 
Description.—Adult—Plumage scarlet, except the tips of the wing, 
which are black; bare parts of head, bill and legs, red. Dimensions 
as in the White Ibis. 
Distribution.—Eastern parts of tropical South America, north casually 
on about half-a-dozen occasions to the United States. Lowe reports 
an example shot on Grape Creek in Wet Mountain Valley, Custer co., 
May, 1876, by a friend of Mr. Livesey, in whose collection the specimen 
was preserved. A subsequent record published by Cooke (97a) was 
based on a misapprehension on the part of the taxidermist, and 
afterwards corrected. 
The occurrence of the Scarlet Ibis in the mountains of Colorado 
at an elevation of at least 8,000 feet is most remarkable, as this bird 
is essentially an inhabitant of the damp tropical forests and rivers of 
South America. 
Genus PLEGADIS, 
Only a space between the eye and the base of the bill without feathers ; 
claws long and slightly curved; plumage metallic glossy green and 
chestnut. 
Key oF THE SPECIES. 
a. Feathers surrounding the bare face black. P. autumnalis, p. 76. 
b. Feathers surrounding the bare face white. P. guarauna, p. 77. 
Glossy Ibis. Plegadis autumnalis, 
A.O.U. Checklist no 186—Colorado Record—Cooke 97, p. 196. 
Description, Resembling the White-faced Glossy Ibis, but the 
feathers round the bare face black, not white, and the bare skin of the 
face slaty-blue or greenish, not red ; dimensions rather larger. Length 
25; wing 11-85. 
Distribution.—The warmer parts of the Old World ; in the New, the 
south-eastern United States and the West Indies, straggling further 
north and west. Cooke notes two occurrences only in Colorado. Mr. 
A. T. Allen, of Denver, shot a fine specimen in full plumage some years 
ago near that place, which was examined by Cooke, and Mr. Voight 
killed an adult male April 12th, 1898, on the Arkansas, three miles 
above Salida, which was identified by Aiken. Hersey informs me he 
has one in his collection taken June, 1905, at Barr. 
