Page:Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Volume 12.djvu/43

Rh five or six inches in length, arched or bent gradually downwards, in that respect to be compared to one half of a bent bow: it is large or thick near the base, compressed on each side, and flatted at top and beneath, which makes it appear four-square for more than an inch, where the nostrils are placed, from whence to their tips both mandibles are round, gradually lessening or tapering to their extremities, which are thicker for about half an inch than immediately above, by which the mandibles never fit quite close their whole length : the upper mandible is a small matter longer than the under: the bill is of a dusky green colour, more bright and yellowish about the base and angles of the mouth. The tail is very short, and the middle feather the longest: the others on each side shorten gradually, and are of the colour of the rest of the bird, only somewhat darker: the two shortest or outermost feathers arc perfectly white, which the bird has a faculty of flirting out on either side as quick as a flash of lightning, especially when he hears or sees any thing that disturbs him, uttering at the same instant an extreme harsh and loud shriek. His neck is long and slender; and his legs are also long, and bare of feathers above the knee, like those of the bittern, and are black, or of a dark lead colour ."

It will be evident, I think, from an inspection of the drawing, that the Ephouskyca is a species of the genus Tantalus or Ibis; a genus of which America produces many species, several of which are now known to be natives of the United States. I cannot, however, find that the "Crying Bird" is noticed by any of the European ornithologists. I am pretty sure that it is not one of the nineteen species described by Mr. Latham in his General Synopsis of Birds. I may add, that our bird has entirely escaped vol. xii.