564 WHITE IBIS. 
os 
WHITE IBIS.— TANTALUS ALBUS. — Fic. 266. 
Le Courly blane du Bresil, Briss. v. p. 339, 10.— Buff, viii. p. 41.— White Cur- , 
lew, Catesby, i. pl. 82.— Lath. Syn. iii. p. 111, No. .— Arct. Zool. No. 363. 
IBIS ALBA, — Vier.or. 
Ibis alba, Wagl. Syst. Av. No. 5. — Bonap. Synop. p. 312. 
‘Turs species bears, in every respect except that of color, so strong 
a resemblance to the preceding, that I have been almost induced to 
Delieve it the same, in its white or imperfect stage of color. The 
length and form of the bill; the size; conformation, as well.as color of 
the legs; the gerieral length and breadth, and even the steel blue on 
the four outer quill-feathers, are exactly alike in both. These sugges- 
tions, however, are not made with any certainty of its being the same, 
but as circumstances which may lead to a more precise examination 
of the subject hereafter. é 
I found this species pretty numerous on the borders of Lake Pont- 
chartrain, near New Orleans, in the month of June, and also observed 
the Indians sitting in market with strings of them for sale. I met with 
them again on the low keys, or islands, offthe Peninsula of Florida. Mr. 
Bartram observes that “ they fly in large flocks, or squadrons, evening 
and morning, to and from their feeding places or roosts, and are usually 
called Spanish Curlews. They feed chiefly on cray fish, whose cells 
they probe, and with their strong, pinching bills, drag them out.” The 
low islands above mentioned abound with these creatures, and small 
crabs, the ground in some places seeming alive with them, so that the 
rattling of their shells against one another was incessant. My venera- 
ble friend, in-his observations on these birds, adds, “It is a pleasing 
sight, at times of high winds, and heavy thunder storms, to observe the 
numerous squadrons of these Spanish Curlews, driving to and ‘fro, 
turning arid tacking about, high up in. the air, when, by their various 
evolutions in the different and opposite currents of the wind, high in 
the clouds, their silvery white plumage gleams and sparkles like the 
brightest crystal, reflecting the sunbeams that dart upon them between 
the dark clouds.” ‘ enn 
The White Ibis is twenty-three inches long, and thirty-seven inches 
in extent; bill, formed exactly like that’ of the Scarlet species, of a 
pale red, blackish towards the point; face, a reddish flesh color, and 
finely wrinkled ; irides, whitish; whole plumage, pure white, except 
about four inches of the tips of the four outer quill-feathers, which are 
of a deep and glossy steel blue ; legs and feet, pale red, webbed to the 
first joint. ie 
These birds I frequently observed standing on ‘the dead limbs of 
trees, and on the shore, resting on one leg, their body in an almost per- 
pendicular position, as represented in the figure, the head and bill 
resting on the breast. This appears to be its most common mode of 
resting, and’ perhaps’ sleeping; as, in all those which I‘ examined, 
the plumage on the upper ridge of the neck, and upper part of the 
