Genus LXX. TANTALUS. IBIS. 
Species I. TANTALUS LOCULATOR. 
WOOD IBIS. 
[Plate LXVI. Fig. 1.] 
Le grand Courli d' AmSrique, Briss. v. 358. 8. — Couricaca, Buff, vii., p. 276, PI. 
Enl. 868.— Catesb. i., 81.— Arct. Zool. No. 360.— Lath. Syn. m., p. 104. 
The "Wood Ibis inhabits the lower parts of Louisiana, Carolina, and 
Georgia ; is very common in Florida, and extends as far south as 
Cayenne, Brazil, and various parts of South America. In the United 
States it is migratory ; but has never, to my knowledge, been found to 
the north of Virginia. Its favorite haunts are watery savannahs and 
inland swamps, where it feeds on fish and reptiles. The French inhabit- 
ants of Louisiana esteem it good eating. 
With the particular manners of this species I am not personally 
acquainted ; but the following characteristic traits are given of it by 
Mr. AVilliam Bartram, who had the best opportunities of noting them. 
" This solitary bird," he observes, " does not associate in flocks ; but 
is generally seen alone, commonly near the banks of great rivers, in 
vast marshes or meadows, especially such as are covered by inundations, 
and also in the vast deserted rice plantations ; he stands alone, on the 
topmost limb of tall dead cypress trees, his neck contracted or drawn 
in upon his shoulders, his beak resting like a long scythe upon his breast ; 
in this pensive posture, and solitary situation, they look extremely grave, 
sorrowful and melancholy, as if in the deepest thought. They are never 
seen on the seacoast, and yet are never found at a great distance from 
it. They feed on serpents, young alligators, frogs, and other reptiles."* 
The figure of this bird given in the plate was drawn from a very fine 
specimen, sent from Georgia by Stephen Elliott, Esq., of Beaufort, 
South Carolina ; its size and markings were as follow : 
Length three feet two inches ; bill nearly nine inches long, straight 
for half its length, thence curving downwards to the extremity, and full 
two inches thick at the base, where it rises high in the head, the whole 
of a brownish horn color ; the under mandible fits into the upper in its 
* Travels, &c, p. 150. 
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