GLOSSY IBIS, 

 Plegadis autumnalis. 



Char. Back, wings, and tail dark purple with metallic reflections of 

 green and bronze ; head, neck, wing-coverts, and under parts rich chest- 

 nut, tinged with purple ; bill brown ; legs greenish brown. Length about 

 24 inches. 



Nest. In a colony, situated in a marsh or swamp on the bank of a 

 river, lake, or shallow lagoon; a compact structure more neatly built than 

 the nest of any of the Herons, composed of dead reeds or twigs and 

 grass ; fastened to upright reeds or placed on a platform of bent reeds, 

 sometimes in a bush or tree growing in the water, and occasionally the 

 platform bearing the nest floats upon the water. 



Eggs. 3-4 ; light blue, or dark blue with a green tinge ; 2.00 X 1.45 



The Glossy Ibis appears to be within the temperate and 

 warmer regions almost a general inhabitant of the world. 

 On the borders of rivers and lakes it is seen, for example, 

 abundant as a bird of passage in Poland, Hungary, Turkey, 

 and the Grecian Archipelago ; it visits the borders of the 



