OCR Text |
Show 490 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE IBIDIN.E. [June 5, neck, is bare. Body large, heavy. Wings reaching to near the end of the tail. Bill curved; nostrils basal, placed in a groove. Middle toe three fourths the length of tarsus; outer toe longer than inner. Head and upper part of neck bare, crossed on the back of neck by numerous black bars. Lower part of neck covered with short dark greenish feathers edged with grey. Back dark brown glossed with green. Scapulars dark brown, webs disunited. Secondaries, tertials, and greater wing-coverts silvery grey, blackish brown along the shaft of the feathers, and tipped with the same. Primaries brownish black. Underparts dark greyish brown in the central portion of breast, dark green on the flanks. Tail and under tail-coverts dark green. Bill dull red. Feet and legs Indian red. Total length 42 inches; wing 21£ inches, tail 11, bill along culmen 9|, tarsus 4\, middle toe 3\, the nail \, hind toe \\. 5. GRAPTOCEPHALUS DAVISONI. Geronticus davisoni, Hume, Str. Feath. vol. iii. (1875) p. 300. Ibis davisoni. Oust. Bull. Soc. Philomat. Paris, 7me se'r. torn. i. p. 28(1877). Hab. Pakchan estuary, Tennasserim Provinces (Davison); Ajudhja, Siam (Bocourt) ; Sombor, Camboja (Harmond). This fine and very distinct species was first described by Mr. H u me (I. ci) from two specimens obtained by his collector, Mr. Davison, on the banks of the Pakchan estuary, in the extreme south of the Tenasserim Provinces. Specimens are in the Museum of Paris, brought at different times by M M . Bocourt and Harmond from Siam and Camboja. As stated by Mr. Hume, in coloration of plumage this species is almost exactly like the Ibis papillosa, Temminck, with which it has been confounded, although the wings and tail of the Siamese examples are a deeper blue than is seen in specimens of I. papillosa. The chief differences between the species are the entire absence of papillse or warts upon the back of the head, the anterior portion alone being covered with' small brown warts, and the peculiar coloration of the bare skin of the head and neck. This in the G. davisoni is black on the top and sides of the head ; and (as indicated in the skin, which, when moistened, exhibited the colours) between this and the feathers of the neck is a broad band of rose-colour, which extends upwards onto the back of the head in a triangular shape, the point reaching to the level of the top of the head, where it is strongly tinged with blue. The black of the throat is concave-shaped at bottom, and curves upwards and inwards on the side of the neck, to and above the ears, and then is divided on the back of the head by the red colour mounting upward. Mr. H u m e says that in his specimens this part of the throat is encircled by a broad white band, which becomes blue upon the occiput, and makes no mention of any red or rose-colour; nor does he state whether he was furnished by Mr. Davison with the colour of this naked part, as he describes it, or observed it on the skin of the prepared specimens. I do not suppose that there are two species; for one specimen in the Museum has an indication of a white ring on the neck ; but I should be inclined to |