620 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



swallowed so instantaneously that all hope of rescue was 

 in vain. On another occasion it actually bolted a cat. 



The genus Mycteria, Linn., contains the birds called 

 jabirus. They scarcely differ from the storks, except in 

 the bill exhibiting a slight curvature upwards. The spe- 

 cies, if correctly referred to by naturalists, though tew in 

 number, inhabit widely distant regions, — M. Americana 

 being native to Cayenne, M. Australia to New Holland, 

 and M. Senegalensis to Western Africa. Is the latter sy- 

 nonymous with Dr Ruppell's saddle-billed stork. C.ephip- 

 piorhyncha ? 



The genus Scopus is composed of a single species, S. 

 wmbretta, Linn., an African bird, of the manners of which 

 we are still entirely ignorant. In English books it is called 

 the tufted umber. Its generic title (Skottoj) is Greek for 

 sentinel. It is probably watchful and solitary. 



The genus Anastomus, of which the Pondicherry and 

 Coromandel herons of Latham serve as examples, is pecu- 

 liar to the East Indies. These species present a remark- 

 able peculiarity in the structure of the bill. The mandibles 

 touch each other only at their points and bases, thus leav- 

 ing a gaping intervening space. An. Cnromandelianus is 

 common on the banks of the Ganges, and other eastern 

 rivers, and likewise frequents the Coromandel coast during 

 the months of September, October, and November, feed- 

 ing on fish and reptiles. A more recently discovered spe- 

 cies is An. lamelligerus of Temm. (PL Col. 236), a native 

 of the Cape. 



The genus Dromas of Paykull has the bill compressed 

 and swollen at the base beneath, with the commissures 

 close. The only known species is D. ardeola, Temm. PI. 

 Col. 362, an African bird, with white plumage, the back 

 and pinions, as well as the legs and bill, being black. It is 

 of rare occurrence, but rather extended distribution, spe- 

 cimens having been obtained both from the shores of the 

 Red Sea and the Senegal coast. " L'ardeole," says M. 

 Lesson, " tient des cedicnemes par son bee, et memes des 

 sternes, de l'avocette, par son plumage et les tarses. C'est 

 un veritable oiseaux de transition dans l'etablissement des 

 families." 1 Some recent writers regard this bird as iden- 

 tical with the cortira so long ago described by Aldrovandi 2 

 as an Italian species, but not since seen either in Europe 

 or elsewhere. The descriptions however do not accord. 

 Bechstein, Vieillot, and others, think the Italian corrira 

 a fictitious species, made up from the body of an avocet 

 and the legs of a thick-knee'd plover ; but Professor Ran- 

 zani is of opinion, that as its name is a vernacular one, and 

 there is no proof that Aldrovandi possessed any stuffed 

 birds (none being mentioned in the catalogue of his mu- 

 seum, and the art in those days being almost unknown), a 

 well-known living species must have been alluded to. In- 

 deed it appears that Charleton, at least seventy years after 

 the printing of the Italian author's third volume, received 

 a specimen from Merret of what he considered as the bird 

 in question.^ " Non vi ha al certo," observes Ranzani, 

 " alcun giusto motivo di rivocare in dubbio, che al tempo 

 di Aldrovandi si trovasse ne' luoghi vallivi del territorio 

 Bolognese un uccello steganopodo, il quali venisse da' cac- 

 ciatori chiamato corrira, perch e correva velocemente." " E 

 quantunque," he afterwards adds, " oggidl niuno de' molti 

 cacciatori Bolognesi da me consultati conosca la corrira, 

 non cesserd io per questo dal fame le piu diligenti ricerche, 

 potendo benissimo accadere, ch'essa torni alcuna volta a 

 visitare i nostri terreni vallivi." 4 



In the genus Tantalus, Linn., the bill, nostrils, and 

 feet resemble those of the storks, but the back of the 

 upper mandible is rounded, its point curved a little down- 



wards, and slightly notched on either side. A portion of t'.ralla- 

 the head, and sometimes of the neck, is bare of feathers. 'ores. 

 The species, formerly confounded with the ibises, are of v ~"~v _ ~ 

 large size, and inhabit Asia, Africa, and America. The 

 best known is Tantalus loculator, called the wood ibis in 

 the United States. It is white, with the face and head 

 greenish blue, the quill and tail feathers black, with co- 

 loured reflections. It measures above three feet in length, 

 and the bill itself is about nine inches long, very broad at 

 the base. The wood ibis is a solitary indolent bird, sel- 

 dom associating in flocks, but resting alone, like a feather- 

 ed hermit, listlessly on the topmost limb of some tall de- 

 cayed cypress, with his neck drawn in upon his shoulders, 

 and his enormous bill resting like a scythe upon his breast. 

 Thus pensive and lonely, he has a grave and melancholy 

 aspect, as if ruminating in the deepest thought; and in 

 this sad posture of gluttonous inactivity (for in truth he 

 has only over-eaten himself) he passes much of his time, 

 till aroused by the cravings of hunger. He feeds on 

 snakes, young alligators, fish, frogs, and other reptiles, and 

 wisely migrates southwards on the approach of winter. 5 

 In the United States the principal residence of this bird 

 is in the inundated wilds of the peninsula of East Florida. 

 The Tantalus ibis of Linn, is an African species, long er- 

 roneously regarded as the bird so highly venerated by the 

 Egyptians ; but it scarcely occurs in the country of the py- 

 ramids, being usually imported from Senegal. The other 

 species of this genus are T. leucocephalus, from Ceylon and 

 Bengal ; and T. lactea (Temm. PL Col. 352), from Java. 



The last genus we shall mention of our present tribe is 

 Platalea, Linn., containing the birds called spoon-bills, 

 which, like the preceding, are also few in number. The 

 chief character is constituted by the rounded flat enlarge- 

 ment or dilatation at the extremity of the bill, from which 

 they derive their English name. They inhabit marshy 

 and muddy places, where they grope about with their 

 spoons in search of worms and mollusca. They are gre- 

 garious and migratory, build on trees, occasionally among 

 rushes, and occur in Europe (PI. leucorodia), Africa (PI. 

 nudifrons), and America (PL ajaja). The last-named 

 species, called the roseate spoon-bill, is a beautiful bird, 

 the ground- colour white, but richly tinged with rose-colour, 

 deepening in part into carmine-red. The feet are half 

 webbed, and the toes are very long (see Plate CCCC. 

 fig. 2). This bird is more maritime in its habits than the 

 European kind, and wades about the coast in quest of shell- 

 fish and small crabs. According to Captain Henderson 

 (in his account of Honduras), it occasionally both swims 

 and dives. Although it now and then straggles up the 

 Mississippi towards Natchez, into Alabama, and even as 

 far north as the banks of the Delaware, it is a truly tropi- 

 cal bird, frequent in Jamaica and other islands of the West 

 Indies, as well as in Mexico, Guiana, and Brazil. In a 

 southerly direction, it is said to spread as far as Patagonia. 



Tribe 4th. — Longirostres. 



In this tribe the bill may be characterized as lengthened 

 and feeble. The species belong chiefly to the old genera 

 Scolopax and Tringa of Linn. They bear a general resem- 

 blance in their forms and habits, and frequent moist places, 

 where their slender bills can probe for worms and insects, 

 without the risk of fracture. 



In the genus Ibis, Cuv., the bill is long, arched, broad, 

 and squarish at the base, with the point depressed, obtuse, 

 rounded, and the upper mandible deeply furrowed through- 

 out its whole length. The nostrils are narrow and oblong, 



1 Traili d'Ornitkologie, p. 591. 

 3 Ornitliologia, t. iii. p. -88. 



3 Exiirciiationes de d'Jferenlus Animalium, Oxonii, 1677, p. 102-3. 

 * ElcmcMl di Zuologia, t. iii. parte ix. p. 300-2. 

 Nuttall's Manual, vol. ii. p. 83. 



