STERNUM OF THE SPOONBILL. 391 



of Cuvier which have bills so totally different from 

 each other that they cannot properly be brought into 

 one group from the structure of that organ. 



With regard to the habits of these birds, and more 

 especially those of the genus ibis, it may not be irre- 

 levant to mention that they have long got credit for 

 being destroyers of poisonous serpents, and according 

 to the story were, on this account, deified by the 

 Egyptians ; but this habit is very doubtful, beetles are 

 more likely food for them, and poisonous serpents are 

 not numerous in their haunts. 



The general habits of the ibis, tantalus, and spoon- 

 bill so much resemble each other, and they are all so 

 perfectly similar in their sternal apparatus, that they 

 belong perhaps more naturally to the same group 

 than almost any other genera of birds. Their sternum 

 is short, broad, and deep, with the keel much pro- 

 duced, and altogether indicating a capacity of powerful 

 and continued flight. It is pointed anteriorly so as 

 to afford firm basis to the coracoids. The keel is a 

 little concave anteriorly, but convex on its under side. 

 It is nearly of the same breadth throughout ; bears 

 six ribs on each side, the sides being concave when 

 viewed laterally, and the posterior portion is divided 

 by two notches of moderate depth towards each 

 angle, the central process being longer and much 

 stiffer than the lateral ones. The coracoids are short, 

 strong, well-set, much enlarged both at their bases 

 and at their heads ; and the clavicle forms a perfect 

 semi-ellipse, thickened at the shoulder-joints, and 

 generally united to the angle of the sternum. The 

 scapular is small-pointed at its extremity, and very 

 slight and curved. The strength of this apparatus is 

 obviously directed towards, or concentrated on, the 

 shoulder-joint ; while the comparative shortness of 



