Habitats: Port Darwin and Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, 

 Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence River Districts, Now South Wales, Interior, Victoria and 



South Australia. South Coast of Now (Juinca. (Itamsay.) 



GENUS THRESKIORNIS (G. R. Gray). 



TVWWj type of this genus is tho Sacred Ibis of Egypt, of which there are several species, all occupants 

 1 of the Old World. 



TIN \ ES KIORNIS STR I CT I PENNIS (Gould). 



WHITE IBIS. Genus: Thrkskiornis 



IIKE tho I\ JfnnjH's and tho fr. spinicollis, this bird is to be met with most plentifully in tho wet 

 ^ seasons (hat produce aquatic reptiles, insects, and luxuriant river herbage, on which it mainly subsists; 

 but, unlike the Yellow- Logged Spoonbill and the Straw-Nocked Ibis, which affect equally the lagoons 

 and plains, the White Ibis confines itself to the wet hollows of flats and the banks of rivers or lagoons, 

 where it wades knee-doe]) among the rushes and succulent herbage in search of frogs, newts and insects. 

 Its appetite satisfied, it retires to the bare branches of some high gum-tree near by, from which sentinel- 

 like spot it can closely observe everything that happens, and cautious indeed must be the sportsman who 

 gets within range of it. 



The White Ibis moves about in pairs, or in small flocks of from five to twenty, spending the 

 spring and summer in the eastern and southern colonies, where it breeds and rears its young, after 

 which it wings its way northward. About the Murray nests are built in the reed-beds in November, 

 and sometimes as many as nine eggs laid. These eggs are white and of a long oval shape, the surface 

 of the shell is rather rough, being minutely pitted all over. Length, 2| inches ; breadth, I ll / 16 inches. 

 (Campbell.) 



Though closely allied to the T. cethiopica (Sacred Ibis) and the T. melanocephala, the T 

 stnctijtcirni.s is easily distinguishable by the lengthened plumes that hang down its nock and give it its 

 specific character. 



Head and upper part of the neck bare, crossed at the back by ten narrow distinct bands of 

 colour varying from rose-pink to dull ferruginous-brown in different individuals ; on the crown a series 

 of oval spots arranged in the form of a star, varying in shade like the transverse bars ; the whole of tho 

 body and wings, creamy white: primaries, tipped with deep bluish-green; webs of the tertiaries, very long 

 and re-curved, bluish-black, freckled with white ; the feathers on the forepart of the neck long, narrow, 

 lanceolate, and stiff'; bill, deep slaty-black; irides, brown; tarsi and feet, light purple; thighs and knees, 

 deep purple. 



Tho sexes are alike except in size, the female being slightly smaller. The young differ only 

 from their parents for the first year or two in having tho neck partially covered with white feathers 

 like tho rest of the body. ( Gould.) 



Total length, 30 inches. 



Habitats : Derby, N.W.A., Gulf of Carpentaria, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay 

 District, Richmond and Clarence River Districts, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria, and South 

 Australia. (Ramsay. ) 



