r 
GLOSSY IBIS. 33 
yet the two parts are still more related between themselves. So 
it is with the family of Tantalidse or Falcati, formed from the genus 
Tantalus of Linne, and composed of but two very natural genera, 
Tantalus and Ibis, the former of which retains a resemblance to 
the Jlrdeidse or Cultrirostres, while the latter claims a stronger 
affinity with the Scolopacidse or Limicolse. Nothing, in our opinion, 
shows more the propriety and even necessity of distinguishing 
this small intermediate group from those which touch upon it. 
Buffon and Brisson, who used as a character the artificial one 
of the curved bill, did not separate the Tantalidse from the 
Curlews, which are real Scolopacidse, though somewhat allied to 
Ibis. Linne, whose philosophical tact was seldom at fault, and 
who crowded all the Scolopacidse into his arbitrary genera Tringa 
and Scolopax, did not however confound the two families, for he 
employed as a distinguishing mark of his genus Tantalus the 
important character of the naked face. He was followed by 
Latham and others. The Ibis of Lacepede is equivalent to the 
Tantalus of Linne, though by giving the genus this name, (which 
Latham had done in English,) he obtained the credit of being the 
founder of the genus Ibis, but unjustly, as he included in it all 
the smooth and thick-billed Tantali. To Illiger belongs the 
merit of having first made the distinction between them, and 
Cuvier, Vieillot, Temminck, and most others have followed his 
course, though some German authors call the restricted genus 
Falcinellus. The present family was instituted by Illiger under 
the name of Falcati. Vieillot and Ranzani adopted it under the 
name of Falcirostres. Boie called it “ of the Ibides,” but Cuvier 
and Latreille placed the two genera of which it is composed within 
the respective limits of the two families which they connect, and 
which they called Cultrirostres and Longirostres. Although Mr. 
Vigors and the modern English school have not adopted it, 
(probably because it interfered with their whimsical quinary 
VOL. iv.—i 
