THE WOOD IBIS. qq 



feathers, which gradually fall off as the bird advances in age. In the third 

 year, the head is quite bare, as well as a portion of the upper part of the 

 neck. In the fourth year, the bird is as you see it in the plate. The male 

 is much larger and heavier than the female, but there is no difference in 

 colour between the sexes. 



Wood Ieis, Tantalus Loculator, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. viii. p. 39. 



Tantalcs Loculator, Bonap. Syn., p. 310. 



Wood Ibis, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 82. 



Wood Ibis, Tantalus Loculator, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 128. 



Male, 441, 62; bill, 9. 



Resident from Texas to North Carolina, in deep woody swamps; or fresh- 

 water lakes, not on the sea-shores; breeds on trees in swamps; moves in large 

 flocks. Up the Mississippi to Natchez. Abundant in Florida and Lower 

 Louisiana. 



Adult Male. 



Bill long, stout, at the base as wide as the face, deeper than broad, com- 

 pressed, tapering towards the end, which is curved. Upper mandible with 

 the dorsal line straight to near the end, then considerably curved, the ridge 

 rather broad and flattened at the base, narrowed at the middle, convex 

 towards the end, the sides sloping and rather flat at the base, towards the end 

 rounded, the edges overlapping, inflected, sharp but strong, the tip declinate, 

 narrow, rounded, with a notch on either side. Nostrils basal, close to the 

 ridge, direct, pervious, oblong; no nasal groove. Lower mandible curved 

 towards the end, like the upper, its angle rather wide, and having a bare 

 dilatable membrane, the sides rather flat and erect at the base, afterwards 

 narrowed and with the back rounded, the edges erect, sharp, with a groove 

 externally for the insertion of those of the upper mandible. 



Head of ordinary size, short, compressed. Neck long. Body rather 

 slender, deeper than broad. Wings large. Feet very long, slender, like 

 those of the Heron. Tibia long, slender, bare for one-half of its length; and 

 with the long, compressed tarsus, covered all round with hexagonal scales. 

 Toes rather long and slender, the first smallest, the second next in length, 

 the third longest, the fourth intermediate between the second and third, all 

 covered above with numerous scutella, laterally with angular scales, beneath 

 flattened with soft margins, the anterior connected at the base by pretty 

 large webs, of which the outer is larger. Claws small, rather compressed, 

 rounded above, obtuse, the thin edge of that of the third not serrated. 



The head all round, and the hind neck half way down, destitute of feathers, 

 the skin wrinkled and covered with irregular scurfy scales. Plumage in 

 general rather loose, more so on the neck. Wings long, ample, primaries 



