164 OS THE IBIS. 



first plate in his Memoir of the Ibis, and in the great work on Egypt 

 " Birds," plate 7. The feathers of the head and back of the neck are 

 rather grey than black, and those of the front of the neck are white. 

 Finally, Brace's drawing, in his Atlas, plate 35, was also made from 

 a young individual seen in Abyssinia, and nearly similar to that of 

 M. Savigny. 



We have received from Pondicherry, by M. Leschenault, an indi- 

 vidual resembling that of Peru, of which only the head, and a small 

 part of the back of the neck, are covered with white feathers ; but it is 

 not less certain that all these birds have the head and neck bare when 

 they reach their full growth. 



The late M. Mace sent from Bengal to the museum, many individu- 

 als of a species closely allied to this, of Which the beak is rather longer 

 and less curved ; the first feather only has a little black on two sides 

 of its extremity, and the secondary feathers are also rather extended 

 and lightly tinged with black. 



According to M. Savigny (page 23 of his work) it appears that M. 

 le Vaillant has observed another, which has also the secondary feathers 

 extended, but which always preserves its feathers, and whose face is 

 of a red colour. 



The same M. Mace also sent a tantalus, closely resembling that 

 which naturalists have regarded as the ibis, but the small wing-cover- 

 ing of which, and a large band below the breast, are black, speckled 

 with white. The lower secondary feathers are lengthened, and of a 

 white colour. We know that in the tantalus ibis of naturalists, the 

 small wing-coverings are speckled with lilac, and that the under part 

 of the body is entirely white. 



We add a table of the parts of some of these birds, which we have 

 been able to measure accurately in stuffed individuals. If we compare 

 them with those of the skeletons of the ibis mummies, we shall judge 

 how impossible it was for an instant to believe that these were the 

 mummies of the tantalus. 



