Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 63
of bill blackish, bordered with a wash varying from pompeiian red
to brick red; base of bill puritan gray, shaded anteriorly into tea
green; iris cream color; bare carunculated skin around eye, and
between rami of mandibles between nopal red and brazil red; bare
skin on sides of throat primuline yellow, bare area on breast duller
than brazil red, shaded to primuline yellow laterally and anteriorly
tarsus and crus a peculiar purplish red between pomegranate purple
and bordeaux ; nails black.
The Aving is diastataxic.
Family THRESKIORNITHIDAE
MOLYBDOPHANES CAERULESCENS (Vieillot)
Ibis caerulescens Vieuxot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., vol. 16, 1817, p. 18.
(Paraguay.)
In the Chaco, west of Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay, this ibis was
fairly common from September 5 to 25, 1920, but was not observed
elsewhere. A female was taken September 7 and two males on September
12 (one preserved as a skeleton), while a female killed on
September 13 was so badly shot that I saved only the skull. In an
adult female the bill was black ; bare throat deep Quaker drab ; bare
loral region dark neutral gray; iris orange chrome, somewhat paler
on inner margin where it bordered the pupil; tarsus and toes tes-
taceous; nails black. In another female the bill and bare skin on
the head were black; lower eyelid pale vinaceous lilac;
orange.
iris mikado
These striking birds were found on marshy ground or about such
small pools of water as remained in nearly dry lagoons. Frequently
they were seen at rest in the tops of dead trees, where they had a
commanding outlook, but always over or near water. The flight is
direct, accomplished by steady flapping, and the passage of the bird
is often announced by loud trumpet calls, kt-ee kree kree, unlike any
other bird note that is familiar to me. They fly with neck and legs
outstretched in usual ibis fashion and are strong and muscular of
body, so that they are hard to kill and difficult to skin when finally
secured. The body gives off an unpleasant musty odor similar to
that of the glossy ibis. While calling they frequently sail with
motionless decurved wings. They stalk slowly about probing in mud
and water often to the full extent of their long curved bills, or rest
quietly in the sun and preen their feathers. At a distance they are
to be distinguished from Theristicus caudatus by the head, which
appears thickened and heavy because of the bushy nuchal crest. The
species was commonly known as handwi^ria^ or in Guarani as
curucau nioroti. (The last word, signifying "light," serves to dis-
tinguish the present species from T. caudatus^ which is characterized
as "blue.") The Anguete Indians call this ibis tay tit.
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