Body usually compressed; neck and legs very long; plumage full and
soft; bill long, normally straight, wedge-shaped, and pointed, but in
Ibididæ blunt and decurved, in Plataleidæ broadly spatulate; nostrils
near base of bill, elongate; hind toe insistent or but slightly
elevated. Nest made of sticks and twigs usually placed in a tree or
bush; eggs three to five, blue and unspotted; young helpless at birth.
Suborders.
a1. Sides of upper mandible with a deep, narrow groove extending from
nostrils to tip. ... Plataleæ (p. 157)
a2. Sides of upper mandible without any groove.
b1. Claws broad and flat, that of middle toe not
pectinate. ... Ciconiæ (p. 159)
b2. Claws narrow and arched, that of middle toe with its inner edge
distinctly pectinate. ... Ardeæ (p. 161)
Suborder PLATALEÆ.
Families.
a1. Bill slender, nearly cylindrical, decidedly decurved for nearly
its whole length. ... Ibididæ (p. 157)
a2. Bill very broad, flattened, greatly widened toward the
tip. ... Plataleidæ (p. 158)
Family IBIDIDÆ.
Bill long, compressed, and curved downward, its tip blunt and rounded;
on each side of culmen a longitudinal groove in the basal portion of
which the nostril is pierced.
Genus PLEGADIS Kaup, 1829.
Characters same as those given for the Family.