OF ORNITHOLOGY 109 



Machetes, The Ruff. 

 Bartramia, Bartram's Sandpiper. 

 Tryngites, The Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 

 Heteroscelus, The Wandering Tattler. 

 Numenius, The Curlews (5 species). 



The above genera are almost uniformly constant. The old synonymy, and 

 the transferring of species from one genera to another — in past years — 

 has but little part in our present advanced ideas about this family. 



FAMILY XLII IBIDIDAE THE TRUE IBISES 



Latin and Greek, Ibis, the Ibis. 

 The Ibises, the Spoonbills, and the Sto7'ks, are all intimately 

 related. Their relation is close also to the " Shore Birds " 

 and the Herons and their allies. Writers differ somewhat as 

 to the exact positions of all of these birds, their order of suc- 

 cession amongst themselves is also somewhat open to question. 

 We will follow here an order which, at least, will lead lis 

 through the difficulty if it does not present to us the most ex- 

 act form of relationships between them, and make a different 

 family for each ; more than one writer has given us an exam- 

 ple in this direction, and we are bound to follow where others 

 lead when we propose nothing which seems to suit the occa- 

 sion any better. The True Ibises present the following char- 

 acteristics : Bill long and slender, curved, compressed, grooved 

 to tip which is blunt not pointed, and with the mandibles 

 meeting quite evenly ; tarsus to or a trifle longer than the 

 middle toe and claw, reticulate but scutellate in front ; toes 

 barely webbed at base ; claws compressed, sharp, and more 

 curved in Euclocimus than in Plegadis ; wings rather long, but 

 broad and concaved ; tail short ; head with bare spaces more 

 or less covering it ; bodies small, necks long and thin. The 

 birds look much like immense Rails, yet differing materially 

 from the Herons. They are more or less tropical ; and, al- 

 though found along the Southern borders of North America, 

 perhaps prefer rather the inland river and lake regions to the 

 immediate sea-shore. There are two genera : 



Genera, Plegadis, The Glossy Ibis and one ally. 



Eudocimus, The White and Scarlet Ibises. 



