WHITE IBIS. 



459 



old birds separately. They have frequently been domesti- 

 cated. 



One of them, which lived for some time in the museum of 

 this city, was dexterous at catching flies, and most usually 

 walked about in that pursuit in the position in which it is 

 represented in the plate. 



The scarlet ibis measures twenty-three inches in length, 

 and thirty-seven in extent ; the bill is five inches long, thick, 

 and somewhat of a square form at the base, gradually bent 

 downwards, and sharply ridged, of a black colour, except near 

 the base, where it inclines to red ; irides, dark hazel ; the 

 naked face is finely wrinkled, and of a pale red ; chin, also 

 bare and wrinkled for about an inch ; whole plumage, a rich 

 glowing scarlet, except about three inches of the extremities 

 of the four outer quill-feathers, which are of a deep steel-blue ; 

 legs and naked part of the thighs, pale red, the three anterior 

 toes united by a membrane as far as the first joint. 



Whether the female differs in the colour of her plumage 

 from the male, or what changes both undergo during the first 

 and second years, I am unable to say from personal observa- 

 tion. Being a scarce species with us, and only found on our 

 most remote southern shores, a sufficient number of specimens 

 have not been procured to enable me to settle this matter 

 with sufficient certainty. 



WHITE IBIS. {Tantalus albus.) 



PLATE LXVL— Fig. 3. 



Le Courly Blanc du Bresil, Briss. v. p. 339, 10. — Buff. viii. p. 41. — "White 

 Curlew, Catesby, i. pi. 82. — Lath. Syn. iii. p. Ill, No. 9.— Arct. Zool. No. 

 363. 



IBIS ALBA.— Vieillot. 



Ibis alba, Wagl. Syst. Av. No. 5.—Bonap. Synop. p. 312. 



This species bears in every respect, except that of colour, so 

 strong a resemblance to the preceding, that I have been almost 

 induced to believe it the same in its white or imperfect stage 



