Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/151

IBICTJI IBIS 143 in winter and reddish in summer ; the hair is short and thick ; the under parts are whitish, and the dorsal stripe blackish brown. The period of gestation is about 160 days, and the young are usually born in April. They prefer the highest and most inaccessible mountains, Ibex (Capra ibex). near the line of perpetual snow, and are ac- cordingly hunted with great difficulty and dan- ger. The Abyssinian ibex ( C. jaela, H. Smith), known to the Greek and Hebrew writers, is rather higher than the preceding species, with longer horns, more circular and less divergent, rounded in front and marked with numerous transverse ridges; the color of the hair is brownish fawn, with a dark dorsal line ; under the throat and neck the hair is lengthened. The Caucasian ibex (C. Caucasica, Guld.) is broader and shorter than the European species; the horns are triangular with distant ridges, very solid, dark brown, and about 28 in. long. The color is dark brown above, head grayish, breast and dorsal line blackish, and throat whitish gray ; the hair is coarse, having at the roots a grayish wool. All these animals are remark- able for strength and agility, making immense bounds among the most dangerous precipices ; they are said to fall from considerable heights upon the horns, when pressed by the hunter, and apparently receive no injury from the shock. They are all probably more or less mixed with the common wild goat (C. cegagrwt) of Europe, and have contributed largely to the production of the numerous varieties of the domestic goat. (See GOAT.) I Itll'l I. a river of Brazil which rises in the Serra de Santa Anna, province of Rio Grande do Sul, about lat. 31 20' S. and Ion. 54 30' W., and flows first due N., under the name of San- ta Anna, then N. W. and joins the Uruguay between La Cruz and Restoracion, lat. 29 S., after a course of some 400 m. It receives on both sides the waters of numerous tributaries, 423 VOL. ix. 10 and is navigable for 300 m. by barges and ca- noes. The upper branch is called Ituzaingo. IBIS, a wading bird of the family tantalida, including the genera ibis (Moehr.) and geronti- cus (Wagl.) ; the genus tantalvs (Linn.) will bo noticed under WOOD IBIS. The genus ibis is characterized by a lengthened, slender bill, curved for its whole length, with the sides com- pressed and tip obtuse ; the nostrils are in a groove which extends to the tip of the upper mandible ; forehead and base of bill, to behind the eyes and on the chin, in most species bare ; wings long and pointed, the first and second quills equal and longest ; tail rather short and nearly even ; tibia bare for half its length, cov- ered with hexagonal scales ; tarsi slender, longer than the middle toe, with broad transverse scales in front ; toes long and slender, the late- ral ones united to the middle by a small web ; hind toe long and slender, claws curved and rather weak. There are about half a dozen species, of which three are found in the United States. The red or scarlet ibis (/. ruJn-a, Linn.) is about 28 in. long, the extent of wings a little over 3 ft., and the bill 6J in. The color is a uni- form bright scarlet, with the tips of the outer primaries black ; in the young the color is ashy, darkest above, with the under parts and rump white. Its natural habitat is South America and the West Indies, but it has been seen in the southern states by Audubon ; it is some- times called, from the length and shape of the Scarlet Ibis (Ibis rubra). bill, the pink curlew. The white ibis, Spanish or white curlew (/. alba, Linn.), is 25 in. long, with an extent of wings of 40 in., and the bill 7 in. The color of the plumage is pure white, with the tips of the outer five primaries shining greenish black ; the bill is red, entirely so in the young birds, but with the terminal half black in the adult; the head in front of the eye is bare ; the young birds are of a dull brown color, with the under parts and rump white. This species is very common in the southern Atlan- tic and gulf states, occasionally straggling as