GO 
WOOD IBIS. 
wing ; the primary coverts are also tipt with the same ; wing- 
quills, dark slate; breast, white, tinged with ochre, under which 
lie a number of blackish feathers ; belly and vent, white ; sides, 
pale ochre ; legs, greenish on the shins, hind part and feet, 
yellow ; thighs, feathered to within a quarter of an inch of the 
knees ; middle claw, pectinated ; toes, tinged with pale green ; 
feet, large, the span of the foot measuring two inches and three 
quarters. Male and female, nearly alike in colour. The young 
birds are brown on the crown and back. The stomach was 
filled with small fish ; and the intestines, which were extremely 
slender, measured, in length, about four feet. 
The least bittern is also found in Jamaica, and several of 
the West India islands. 
WOOD IBIS TANTALUS LOCULATOR— Plate LXVI. Fig. 1. 
Gmel. Syst. p, 647. — Le Grand Courly d’Amerique, Briss. v. p. 335, 8. — Couri- 
caca, Buff. vii. p. 276. Bl. JEnl. 868. — Cateshy, i. 81. — A.rct. Zool. No. 360. 
— Lath. Syn. iii. p. 104. — Beale's Museum, No. 3832. 
T ANTAL VS LOG ULA TO i?.— Linnaeus.* 
Tantalus loculator, Bonap. Synop. p. 310. — Wagl. Syst. Av. No. 1. 
The wood ibis inhabits the lower parts of Louisiana, Caro- 
lina, and Georgia ; is very common in Florida, and extends as 
* This species, I believe peculiar to the New World, is extensively dispersed 
over it, but migratory towards the north. The bird stated by Latham, as iden- 
tical with this, from New Holland, will most probably turn out the T. lacteus, 
or leucocephalus ; at all events, distinct. The genera Tantalus and Ibis run into 
each other in one of those gradual marches where it is nearly impossible to mark 
the distinction, yet, taking the extremes, the difference is very great. Tanta- 
lus loculator is the only American species of the former group, principally distin- 
guished by the base of the bill being equal in breadth with the forehead, which, 
with the face, cheeks and throat, are bare. In their general manner, they are 
more sluggish than the ibis, and possess more of the inactivity of the heron when 
gorged, or the sedate gait of the stork and adjutants. The known species have 
been limited to about five in number, natives of America, Africa, and India. 
