Ornithological and Other Oddities 



story of the crocodile's bird-friend, the trockilus, 

 as " a pure myth " ; and even the existence of 

 the leeches, which the bird took from the reptile's 

 mouth, is characterised as "an absurd state- 

 ment," and "contrary to all reason." As a 

 matter of fact the crocodile's mouth is infested 

 by a peculiar parasitic leech, and recent evidence 

 leaves little doubt but that one or other of two 

 species of plover does actually render the service 

 credited to it by Herodotus, and one of these 

 has actually been observed to warn the crocodile 

 of danger. 



From the trockilus the transition to the ibis 

 is easy, and here Herodotus's clear and careful 

 account is in striking contrast to the mistakes 

 of modern writers about these birds. An ibis 

 at the Cape, which is black with a bald red 

 head, is set down by the Boers as a "wild 

 turkey," and in Egypt the cattle-egret, a small 

 white heron, is pointed out by the dragoman, 

 and accepted by the flock of tourists he is 

 shepherding, as the true sacred ibis. It would 

 appear from Herodotus's account that his " black 

 ibis" — believed to be the "glossy ibis" of 

 modern ornithology — was the snake-destroyer, 

 though the white species is that which is found 

 embalmed, and has received the scientific name 

 of religiosa. Both kinds are usually to be seen 



at the Zoological Gardens, and the glossy ibis 



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