4S 



WHITE IBIS. 

 TANTALUS ALBUS. 

 [Plate LXVL— Fig. 3.] 



Lt Courli blanc du Bresil, Briss. V, 339, 10.— Buff. YIII, ]). il. PI. EnL 9iB.^JVh'de Curlew, 

 CaTesby, I, pi. 82 ^Lath. Syn. Ill, p. Ill, jS'*o. 9.— t^rcf. Zool. M). 363. 



THIS species bears in every respect except that of color, so 

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

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

 color. The length and form of the bill, the size, conformation, 

 as well as color of the legs, the general length and breadth, and 

 even the steel blue on the four outer quill feathers, are exactly 

 alike in both. These suggestions, however, are not made with 

 any certainty of its being the same; but as circumstances wliich 

 may lead to a more precise examination of the subject hereafter. 



I found this species pretty numerous on the borders of lake 

 Pontchartrain, near New Orleans, in the month of June, and also 

 observed the Indians sitting in market with strings of them for 

 sale. I met with them again on the low keys or islands off the 

 peninsula of Florida. Mr. Bartram observes that ''ihej fly in 

 large flocks or squadrons, evening and morning, to and from their 

 feeding places or roosts, and are usually called Spanish Curlews. 

 They feed chiefly on cray fish, whose cells they probe, and with 

 their strong pinching bills drag them out.'' The low islands 

 above mentioned abound with these creatures and small crabs, the 

 ground in some places seeming alive with them, so that the rat- 

 tling of their shells against one another was incessant. My vene- 

 rable friend, in his observations on these birds adds, "It is a 

 pleasing sight at times of high winds, and heavy thunder storms, 



