90 WADING BIRDS. 



their actions, as if conscious of the veneration and hitfh 

 regard, symboHcally bestowed upon them, by the nations of 

 antiquity. When, however, alarmed, they rise high in the 

 air, in a wide spiral range, uttering loud cries, like geese, 

 and having attained a safe elevation, they file off in an hori- 

 zontal direction, uttering at intervals, a low and hoarse 

 sound, and their flight being vigorous, they soon disappear 

 from sight. They are said to nest in trees, but of their 

 mannei-s, during the period of reproduction, we are still 

 wholly ignorant, and Temminck believes that they retire to 

 breed in the wilds of Asia. Though Montague thinks their 

 vernal migrations are directed to the less inhabited parts of 

 the north, where they find security about the rivers and in- 

 terior lakes to propagate, and from whence they retire as 

 the winter approaches, and as their food begins to fail, 

 spreading themselves at this season over the southern parts 

 of Europe and the adjoining continents. According to 

 Oedman, they have been known to breed for several years 

 in succession, in the isle of Oland, in the Baltic. The food 

 of the Ibis is merely insects, worms, river shell-fish and 

 vegetables, which is likewise the real fare of the nearly 

 allied, and also second Sacred Ibis, of the Egyptians, {Ihis 

 rdiglosa, Cuvier,) neither of wdiom. show any predilec- 

 tion for devouring serpents or large reptiles, for which, in 

 fact, the structure of their long and falciform bills is wholly 

 unfitted. 



From the supposed utility of the Ibis in destroying nox- 

 ious reptiles, it was held in the greatest veneration by the 

 Egyptians : to kill it was forbidden under pain of death ; 

 they were kept in temples, and when they died, were embalm- 

 ed, inurned, and deposited with the mummies in the sacred re- 

 ceptacles of the dead. These hird-pits, as they are still 

 called, are scattered over the plains of Saccara, and are filled 

 with the numerous remains of this and the Egyptian species. 



