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Show 488 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE IBIDINSE. [June 5, Ibis religiosa, Schleg. & Poll. Rech. Faun. Madag. (1868) p. 126. Geronticus bernieri, Gray, Handl. B. (1871) pt. iii. p. 40. Hab. Madagascar. Precisely like the /. cethiopica in colour of plumage, but apparently distinct, or at all events a geographical race, distinguished from its near relative by the much less extent of bare skin on the neck and the white iris. Tertials black with a bluish gloss, their webs open and diminished. Entire rest of plumage pure white. Bill black, feet and legs black. Entire length 26 inches; wing 13^ inches; tail 7 inches; bill along culmen 5| inches ; tarsus 3 inches. 3. IBIS MELANOCEPHALA. Black-headed Ibis, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp. p. 240. Tantalus melanocephalus, Lath. Ind. Orn. (1790) vol. ii. p. 709. sp. 21 : Wagl. Isis (1829) p. 760. Ibis melanocephala, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. (1817) vol. xvi. p. 23; id. Ency. Meth. (1823) torn. iii. p. 1150; Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827); Jard.*& Selby, Orn. 111. pl. 120; Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. (1857) vol. iii. p. 151 ; Schleg. Mus. P.-Bas. (1863) livr. 4, p. 14 ; Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1873) pp. 467, 638. Numenius de Macei, Cuv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. (1805) vol. iv. p. 125. Ibis leucon, Temm. Plan. Col. no. 481. Ibis macei, Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 3. Ibis bengala, Cuv. M S . Paris Mus.; Less. Trait. Orn. (1831) p. 568. Ibis religiosa, Sykes' Cat. p. 188. sp. 1. Threskiornis melanocephalus, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. Asiat. Soc. (1849) p. 275; Grav, Gen. B. (1849) vol. iii. p. 567; Jerd. B. Ind. (1864) vol. iii. p. 768. sp. 941; Swinh. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1863) p. 318. sp. 320; Blyth, Ibis (1867) p. 174, (1870) p. 175; Gray, Handl. B. (1871) pt. iii. p. 40. sp. 10222; Holdsw. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1872) p. 479. sp. 290; Legge, Ibis (1875) p. 404. Ibis propinqua, Swinh. Ibis (1861) p. 261 ; id. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1870) p. 428, (1871) p. 44. Hab. India generally; scarce in Arakan (Blyth); Java (Schlegel); Ceylon (Holdsworth). I place the Ibis propinqua, Swinhoe, as a synonym of I. melanocephala, as I do not perceive in his description (/. ci) any difference from the present species to entitle it to a separate specific rank. The " pectoral feathers, long and pointed like in Herodias garzetta," I do not consider of any specific value, as I find specimens of I. melanocephala, from Bengal and Pondicherry respectively, in the Paris Museum, with these lengthened feathers as well as without them, the one from Bengal having them very long and conspicuous, the other not having a trace of them. The latter specimen is Cuvier's type of Ibis bengala (MS. Mus. Paris); the former is marked as Ibis macei, Wagler. These feathers are assumed in the breeding-season, as stated by Blyth, and therefore cannot be accepted as indicating a |