ERODY. 137 



GENUS LXXVII— ERODY. 



1 Abyssinian || 2 Pondicherry || 3 Indian 



ILL nearly straight, sharp at the end, the two mandibles not 



closing' the whole of their length. 



Face covered with feathers. 



Legs long; middle toe connected to the inner by a membrane as 

 far as the first, and to the outer to the second joint; hind toe long ; 

 claws moderate. 



1.— ABYSSINIAN ERODY.— Pl. cxlix. 



Ardea Pondiceviana, Salt's Trav. App.xYix. No. 55. 

 Erodia Amphilensis, Salt's Trav. A pp. iv. pi. in p. lxiii. 



SIZE of the Avoset; length, from the point of the bill to the end 

 of the tail, fifteen inches, bnt to the end of the toes five more. Bill 

 black, stout, two inches and a half long; the two mandibles, in a 

 natural state, somewhat receding from each other towards the point; 

 the depth, just before the nostrils, rather more than half an inch ; 

 nostrils pervious, situated at the lower and fore part of a membrane ; 

 head large in proportion, as in some of the Plover Genus, and wholly 

 covered with feathers; head, neck, greater part of the wing, down 

 the middle, tail, and all beneath white ; upper parts of the body in 

 general the same, but the back, as far as the middle, is black, and 

 beyond this the feathers are two inches and a half long, and extend 

 almost as far as the rump; greater quills black on the outer webs, 

 the shafts and inner webs white, but the ends of all are black ; lesser 

 quills white; on the outer edge, in the place of the bastard wing, a 



vol. ix. T 



