Genus— G AR P H I B I S . 
Carphibis Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel., p. xiv., 1852. Type C. spinicolUs. 
Plegadine birds with long bills, long wings and tail, and medium legs and 
feet. 
The bill, wings, tail, and feet are similar to those of ThresMornis. 
The chief difference lies in the feathering of the hind-neck — this portion 
in ThresMornis being bare — and the peculiar elongated stiffened shafts on the 
fore-neck, while the inner secondaries are normal. 
The legs and toes are shorter than in ThresMornis, while the tail is 
proportionately longer. 
The culmen is about half the length of the wing, and more than twice 
the length of the metatarsus. In ThresMornis the metatarsus is more than 
half the length of the culmen. 
The coloration is very different. 
The bill in the adult male is peculiar in that the sides of the upper 
mandible are ornamented with regular perpendicular flake-like ridges on 
its basal half. In the adult female this is not so marked, while these flaky 
ridges are not present in the immature. 
In ThresMornis an irregular flaking only appears, and this is not at all 
marked. 
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