Il8 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



probably none of these people have ever seen the real bird. 

 They are the dupes of dragomen ; and indignant as they 

 would be if they were told it, the Buff-backed Heron has' 

 been passed off upon them as the vara avis, its unsuspicious 

 character rather assisting than otherwise in keeping up the 

 deception. This has been the real object of their aspira- 

 tions, or some other white bird of the Heron tribe. 



The fact is that the only modern author who has fallen in 

 with the genuine article, as far as my reading has carried 

 me, is Savigny, and as the account which he gives of its habits 

 seems to have been overlooked, I will quote him. He 

 writes : — ' 



"Vers la fin du mois de fructidor de I'an 8, [September, 1800] 

 comme je descendois le Nil pour me rendre a Rosette, j'appergus 

 les premiers Ibis blancs, neanmoins, je ne pus les suivre m'en 

 procurer et les examiner attentivement que plus de trois mois 

 apres, pendant un sejour que je fis dans les environs de Damiette 

 et de Menzale. On voyoit encore, k cette epoque, quantite' d'Ibis 

 noirs, mais deja les blancs commencaient a devenir rares ; je ne 

 les retrouvai meme en certain nombre que pres de Kafr-Abou-Said 

 sur la rive gauche du Nil, a 3,000 metres de ce fleuve et a 20,000 

 de Damiette dans de grandes inondations qui s'etendent jusqu'au 

 lac Bourlos." 



At p. 50 he says that during autumn Ibises of both species 

 are found in the markets of Lower Egypt, particularly 

 Damietta, with their heads cut off; and that the Glossy 

 Ibis has been often brought him alive, and once the Sacred 

 Ibis; and then at p. 52 he adds : — 



"Ilparoit que I'espece sejourne en Egypte environ sept mois, 

 au moins encore quelques individus \ Kafr-Abou-Said, le 24 nivose 

 (14 Janvier)." 



Its extinction therefore must be of comparatively recent 

 date. Fortunately it has not been extirpated altogether, 

 like the Great Auk and the Nestor prodnctiis. It is still 



