THE GLOSSY IBISES. 
303 
THE IBISES AND SPOON-BILLS. 
SUB-ORDER PLATALE^. 
These birds have the bridged, or “ desmognathous,” palate of 
the Herons, but they have schizorhinal nostrils, not holorhinal, 
as in the last named birds. Basiptcrygoid processes are ab- 
sent, and the sternum has four notches, or clefts, in its poste- 
lior end. , r., . , • . 
The Sub-order contains two families, the FlaialeiaiE, or 
Spoon-bills, and the Ibises (Ibidida), which arc both almost 
cosmopolitan in their range. 
THE IBISES. FAMILY IBIDID/E. 
The Ibises are found all over the world and comprise some 
eiditeen genera, with only one of which are we concerned in 
the present volume, viz., the genus Plegadis. In the I ami y 
ibididee are included some remarkable forms, of which the 
Sacred Ibis (Ibis celhiopicd) is perhaps the best known, from its 
connection with ancient Egyptian lore. It is now very rarely 
met with in that country, but is by no means yet extinct there, 
as the British Museum contains specimens from Egypt. 111 
other parts of Africa, however, it is far more plentiful, and 
but rarely visits Egypt m modern days, though Captain Shelley 
not long ago received a specimen from Damietta, and Mr. V\ . 
D. Gumming has met with the species at I'ao in the Persian 
Gulf in October. In Madagascar occurs a distinct foini, with 
a white eye (/. hcrnkri\ and in India and China the Sacred 
Ibis is replaced by an allied species, I. melanocephala. 
THE GLOSSY IBISES. GENUS PLEGADIS. 
Plegadis, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 82 (1829). 
Type, P.fakinellus (Linn.). 
The Ibises are divided into two sections, one with the tarsus 
reticulated in front, and having numerous octagonal scales, the 
other with the tarsus plated in front. To this latter section 
belongs the genus Plegadis, which is further distinguished 
