78 Birds of Colorado 
is strongly and compactly woven of dead reeds, about 
a foot in diameter and well cupped. The eggs, usually 
three sometimes five, are deep bluish-green and average 
about 2°0 x 1°42. 
Family CICONIIDZ. 
The Storks are large birds with stout bills, longer 
than the head, straight to the tip or sometimes slightly 
decurved but without distinct grooves on either side ; 
tibiz half bare; front toes webbed at the base, outer 
one specially so, and the claw of the middle toe not 
pectinated. 
Genus MYCTERIA, 
Bill decurved at tip; nostrils basal; whole head and neck of adult 
naked and scaly, and crowned with a horny plate ; tibie bare for half 
their length ; anterior toes webbed at the base. 
This genus, known until quite recently as Tantalus, has had its name 
changed to Mycteria (see Allen, ‘“‘ Auk ”’ xxv., p. 37). 
Only one species is recognized. 
Wood Ibis. Mycteria americana. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 188—Colorado Records—Ridgway 79, p. 233 
(Tantalus loculator); Morrison 89, p. 166; Cooke 97, pp. 60, 197; 
Felger 03, p. 65. 
Description.— Adult—Plumage white throughout, except for the 
wing-quills and tail-feathers, which are glossy black; the under wing- 
coverts pink im the breeding season ; iris brown, bill dingy yellow, 
naked head and neck scaly, legs bluish. Length about 48; wing 19; 
tail 7-10; culmen 9-0; tarsus 8-0. 
The female is smaller—wing 17. A young bird has the head and 
neck covered with greenish-brown feathers, and the rest of the plumage 
dull white. 
Distribution.—The southern United States, from the Carolinas and 
California south to the West Indies and the Argentine; casually to 
middle and northern United States. 
An occasional wanderer to Colorado; Mrs. Maxwell’s collection 
contained a young bird; Carter reported its occurrence on the Blue 
River, twenty-five miles below Breckenridge, on the evidence of a wing 
