- 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.
131. PLEGADIS AUTUMNALIS (Linnæus).
GLOSSY IBIS.
- Tringa autumnalis Linnæus in Hasselquist, Reise Palæstina (1762), 306.
- Plegadis falcinellus Oates, Bds. Brit. Burmah (1883), 2, 271; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 29; Hand-List (1899), 1, 187; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 102; Mearns, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. (1905), 18, 89; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 31.
Mindanao (Mearns). China, Africa, Jamaica, Australia, eastern United States, southern Europe to India.
“Adult.—Above black, with varying glossy reflections, either bronzy purple or green; upper mantle deep maroon-chestnut, as also lesser wing-coverts and scapulars, the latter having bronzy tips; median and greater coverts duller and more oily green with bronze or steel-green reflections; alula, primary-coverts, and quills entirely glossy green, secondaries with purplish reflections; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail all black, with various reflections of purple and oily or bronzy green; head and neck all round, as well as under surface of body deep maroon-chestnut, somewhat lighter on the chest and breast; forehead and fore part of crown glossy green, as also base of cheeks and a slight shade below eye; under tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, and axillars black, with metallic reflections of green and purple, the quill-lining being similarly glossed. ‘Bill and feet dark brownish olive, iris brown.’ (Guillemard.) Length, 558; culmen, 132; wing, 284; tail, 99; tarsus, 107.