Plate CCXXII. Adult and Young.
Bill and bare parts of the head light orange-red, feet paler; plumage
pure white, excepting the ends of from three to five of the outer
primaries, which are deep black, glossed with blue and green. Young
with the bill greyish-yellow, the feet leaden-coloured, the plumage
dull brown all over, excepting the rump, which is whitish, and the
tail, which is tinged with grey. Young after first moult with the bill
pale yellow, the feet pale blue; the plumage dull olivaceous brown,
the quills dark, the tail lighter, the hind part of the back white, as
are the breast and abdomen.
_Adult_, 24-1/2, 40.
Constant resident in South Florida, where it is abundant. Breeds along
the coast to Texas, westward, and occasionally as far as New Jersey
eastward, inland as far up the Mississippi as Natchez and Red River.
Returns to the Floridas in autumn.
White Ibis, Tantalus albus, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p. 43.
Ibis alba, Bonap. Syn. p. 312.
White Ibis, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 86.
White Ibis, Ibis alba, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 173; v. v.
p. 593.
GENUS II. TANTALUS, Linn. TANTALUS.
Bill long, stout, at the base as wide as the face, deeper than broad,
compressed, tapering towards the end, which is decurved; upper
mandible with the ridge rather broad and flattened at the base,
narrowed at the middle, convex towards the end, the sides sloping at
the base, convex toward the end, the edges inflected and sharp, the
tip declinate, rounded, with a notch on each side; nostrils basal,
close to the ridge, direct, oblong; lower mandible with the angle
rather wide, with a bare dilatable membrane, the edges erect and
sharp, the tip blunted. Head of ordinary size, and with part of the
hind neck bare and scurfy. Feet very long, like those of the Herons;
tibia and tarsus reticulate; hind toe rather large, third longest;
claws small, arched, that of the third toe not serrate. Wings long,
ample, with the third quill longest. Tail of twelve broad rounded
feathers.