Genus PLEGADIS. 
Bill much slenderer than in the last, and far less stout at the base ; nostrils placed nearer 
the base. Wing with 1st primary nearly as long as the 2nd, which is the longest. Legs longer 
than in Ibis, slenderer. Tarsus covered in front with broad transverse scales, reticulate behind. 
Toes long and slender. 
Head and neck feathered ; the anterior portion of the face nude. 
PLEGADIS FALCINELLUS. 
(THE GLOSSY IBIS.) 
Tantalus falcinellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 241 (1766). 
Numenius igneus, S. G. Gmel. Reise d. Russl. i. p. 166 (1770). 
Plegadis (Ibis falcinellus, L.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 82 (1829). 
Falcinellus igneus (Gmel.), Gould, B. of Austr. vi. pi. 47 (1848) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. 
B. p. 274 (1849) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 770 (1864) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 479 ; 
Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 404; Salvadori, Ucc. di Born. p. 360 (1874) ; Elliot, P. Z. S. 1877, 
p. 503 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 635 (1875), et Str. Feath. 1879 (List Ind. B.), 
p. 114. 
Ibis falcinellus (Temm.), apud Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 115 ; Heuglin, 
Ois. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1132 (1873); David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 433 (1877). 
Plegadis falcinellus (Linn.), Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 71, 72 (1878). 
Courlis vert. Buff. ; Bay-green and Glossy Ibis, Lath. ; Black Curlew of Europeans. Ilerez , 
Arabic (Heuglin) ; Swartz-whelp, lit. “ Black Curlew,” Dutch ; Prater whelp, Portu- 
guese in Ceylon ; Kewari, Hind. ; Kowar in Purneah ; Tati kankaram, Telugu ; 
Karapu kotan, lit. “ Black Snipe,” Ceylonese Tamils. 
Eattu-datuduwa, lit. “ Black Sickle-bill,” Sinhalese. 
Adult female (Ceylon). Length 24-75 inches ; wing 11-5; tail 4-0; tarsus 4-5; bare tibia 2-0; middle toe 1-6, its 
claw (straight) 0-7 ; hind toe 1-0 ; bill to gape (straight) 5-6. — Adults. (Greece, Brit. Mus.) Wing 10-4 to 11-75; 
tarsus 3-8 to 4-3 ; bill to gape 4-5 to 5-2. (India) Length 22-0; wing 10-75; tarsus 4-0; bill at front G-0 
(Jerdon). Mr. Elliot’s measurements ( loc.cit .) are: — Length 25-0; wing 12-0 ; tail 4-75 ; tarsus 4-25; bill along 
culmen 6-0. Males are the larger of the sexes ; but apparently considerable individual difference in size exists. 
Iris brown, in some mottled with grey ; bill dark livid brown ; facial skin livid, extending round the eye from the 
centre of the forehead and thence to the sides of the lower mandible; legs and feet bronzed brown, bluish 
above the knee. 
Female (Ceylon). Head and cheeks metallic green, with purplish-bronze reflections ; entire neck and upper part of 
interscapular region, as also the under surface to the vent, maroon-red ; least wing-coverts and upper scapulars 
shining maroon-red ; back, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, and wing-coverts brilliantly glossed with amethystine or 
purple-bronze colour, the green being most vivid on the rump and outer wing-coverts ; tail green-brown, glossed 
with amethystine ; primary-coverts, primaries, and secondaries dark green, with bluish reflections ; under tail- 
coverts dusky green, glossed with purple ; axillaries brownish green, glossed with purple ; under wing dark 
glossy green. 
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