356 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
Family TANTALIDiE. Ibis. 
Size large. Bill hard, considerably lengthened, cylin- 
drical, and curved from the base. Face or head more 
or less naked. Hinder toe on the same plane as the 
others. Plumage metallic. The tenuirostral family. 
Anastomus, Illiger. {fig. 308.) Openbeak. Bill straight, 
hard, heavy, solid, compressed, marked with longitu- 
dinal wrinkles. 
Upper mandible 
very straight ; 
the base thick- 
ened at the top, 
and as high as the crown ; the tip notched ; the 
margin dentated: under mandible greatly curved 
upwards, and only touching the upper at the base, 
and at the tip. 
A. lainelligerus. PI. Col. 236. 
XantaluSj Liinn. Bill nearly as thick, at the base, as 
the head ; cylindrical and attenuated towards the tips, 
which are slender and slightly bent : margins entire. 
Upper mandible notched. Nostrils naked, vertical, 
basal, oval-ohlong. Toes connected at the base. 
T. loculator. 'Wilson, pi. 66. f. 1. 
Ibis, Antiq. Bill much more slender; cylindrical, and 
arched from the base. Nostrils basal, lateral. Wings 
broad, ample : the second and third quills longest. 
I. ruber. PI. Knl. 80, 81. 
Aram us, Vieil.* Bill lengthened, sUghtly curved to- 
wards the point, which is entire and indexed. Under 
mandible curved from about the middle, and angu- 
lated. Furrow of the nostrils long. Nostrils lateral, 
remote from the base, longitudinal. Feet long. 
Hallux elevated. Anterior toes divided at their base. 
Wings moderate ; the two first quills shorter than the 
third, which is the longest. America. 
A. scolopacius. PI. Enl. 848. 
* This type I 
M. Tomminck. 
have not examined : the above characters are those of 
It seems related, cither by analogy or affinity, to the rails. 
