THE WOOD IBIS. 
69 
feathers, which gradually fall off as the bird advances in age. In the third 
year, the head is quite bare, as well as a portion of the upper part of the 
neck. In the fourth year, the bird is as you see it in the plate. The male 
is much larger and heavier than the female, but there is no difference in 
colour between the sexes. 
Wood Ibis, Tantalus Loculator , Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. viii. p. 39. 
Tantalus Loculator, Bonap. Syn., p. 310. 
Wood Ibis, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 82. 
Wood Ibis, Tantalus Loculator , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 128. 
Male, Uh 62; bill, 9. 
Resident from Texas to North Carolina, in deep woody swamps ; or 
fresh-water lakes, not on the sea-shores; breeds on trees in swamps; moves 
in large flocks. Up the Mississippi to Natchez. Abundant in Florida 
and Lower Louisiana. 
Adult male. 
Bill long, stout, at the base as wide as the face, deeper than broad, com- 
pressed, tapering towards the end, which is curved. Upper mandible with 
the dorsal line straight to near the end, then considerably curved, the ridge 
rather broad and flattened at the base, narrowed in the middle, convex 
towards the end, the sides sloping and rather flat at the base, towards the end 
rounded, the edges overlapping, inflected, sharp but strong, the tip declinate, 
narrow, rounded, with a notch on either side. Nostrils basal, close to the 
ridge, direct, pervious, oblong ; no nasal groove. Lower mandible curved 
towards the end, like the upper, its angle rather wide, and having a bare 
dilatable membrane, the sides rather flat and erect at the base, afterwards 
narrowed and with the back rounded, the edges erect, sharp, with a groove 
externally for the insertion of those of the upper mandible. 
Head of ordinary size, short, compressed. Neck long. Body rather 
slender, deeper than broad. Wings large. Feet very long, slender, like 
those of the Heron. Tibia long, slender, bare for one-half of its length; and 
with the long, compressed tarsus, covered all round with hexagonal scales. 
Toes rather long and slender, the first smallest, the second next in length, 
the third longest, the fourth intermediate between the second and third, all 
covered above with numerous scutella, laterally with angular scales, beneath 
flattened with soft margins, the anterior connected at the base by pretty 
large webs, of which the outer is larger. Claws small, rather compressed, 
rounded above, obtuse, the thin edge of that of the third not serrated. 
The head all round, and the hind neck half way down, destitute of 
feathers, the skin wrinkled and covered with irregular scurfy scales 
Plumage in general rather loose, more so on the neck. }Vings long, 
