86 
ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — 1IERODIONES. 
species, not including several of doubtful validity, or about one third of those known). 
Of the exotic species, Africa possesses about nine (two of them in common with 
Southern Europe), Asia five, and Australia two. A very great diversity of form and 
plumage is to be seen among the various species, some being trim and graceful in 
their build, and others uncouth, with Vulture-like head and neck — some plain in 
colors, while others are among the most brilliant of birds. The scarlet plumage of 
Eudocimus ruber is not surpassed in nature for pureness and intensity of color, and 
the beautiful decomposed tertial plumes of Ibis cethiopicus are scarcely excelled in 
gracefulness. The species of Molybdoplianes, Theristicus, and Cercibis, however, 
possess but little beauty. 
The family is divisible into two well-defined sections, which may be termed sub- 
families, distinguished mainly by the character of the tarsal scutellation. They may 
be defined as follows : — 
Sub-family Ibidinae. Front of the tarsus covered with hexagonal scales. 
Sub-family Eudociminae. Front of the tarsus with large, transverse scutella;, arranged in a more 
or less continuous single series. 
Both the above sub-families are represented in America, but only the latter in the 
northern continent. The North American genera may be recognized by the follow- 
ing characters : — 
Sub-family EUDOCIMINAE . 1 — Tiie Ibises. 
Eudocimus. Head of adult wholly naked anteriorly. Feathers of the pileum short, close, and 
blended, and those of the neck not distinctly lanceolate. Colors plain white or red, with black 
wing-tips, in adults, dull gray and white in young. 
Plegadis. Head of adult wholly feathered, except the lores ; feathers of the pileum distinctly 
lanceolate and slightly elongated, forming a slightly rounded crest when erected. Colors 
highly metallic, of varied tints ; in adult, metallic greenish, bronze or purple above, plain 
brown beneath, in young. 
Genus EUDOCIMUS, Waglee. 2 
Eudocimus, Wagl. Isis, 1832, 1232 (type, Tantalus ruber, Linn.). 
Guam, “Joan he Laet.,” Reichenb. Handb. 1851, p. xiv (same type). 
“ Paribis, Geoffroy.” 
Lcucibis, Reich enb. Handb. 1851, p. xiv (type, Tantalus albcr, Linn.). 
Gen. Char. — Bill moderately slender, attenuated toward the end, strongly decurved ; bare 
portion of the tibia equal to or rather shorter than the outer toe ; middle toe, with claw, shorter 
than the tarsus ; inner toe (without claw) reaching to or a little beyond the subterminal articula- 
tion of the middle toe ; outer toe reaching to or beyond the middle of the subterminal phalanx of 
the middle toe ; hallux about equal to the basal phalanx of the inner toe; claws short, moderately 
curved, that of the middle toe more or less bent outwardly toward the tip, its inner projecting 
1 For a more comprehensive account of the birds of this family, the reader is referred to the following 
special papers : — 
(1) Review of the Ibidincc, or Sub-family of the Ibises, by D. G. Elliot, F.R.S.E., etc., in Proc. Zool. 
Soc., London, 1877, pp. 477-510. 
(2) Systcmatische Uebersicht dcr Schrcitvogcl ( Gressorcs ), etc., von Dr. Ant. Reiclienow, in Jour, fiir 
Orn., 1877 (the Ibises on pp. 143-146). 
2 Cf. Elliot, P. Z. S. 1877, 482 ; Scl. & Salv., Ibis, Oct. 1878, 449, foot-note. The latter say : 
“ Ibis was applied by Savigny in 1810 to the Sacred Ibis, before Vieillot used it for the former group 
[i. e. 7. alba and 7. rubra\, for which, consequently, Eudocimus of Wagler is the correct term.” 
