ibidld.t:. 



391 



THE GLOSSY IBIS. 

 Plegadis falcixellus (Linnaeus). 



The Glossy Ibis is now only of accidental occurrence in the 

 British Isbnds, but towards the end of the last century- its \isits 

 appear to have been more frequent, and near L5Tin in Norfolk it 

 was known to gunners and fishermen as the 'Black Curlew.' In the 

 eastern and midland counties and on the estuaries of the south 

 coast it has been obser\-ed more often than in the west, though it 

 has occurred in Pembrokeshire and Lancashire : it is even popularly 

 — and erroneously — supposed to be the bird called the Liver, figured 

 in the arms of Liverpool. Northward it is decidedly rare, and only six 

 examples seem to have been obtained in Scotland : one of them near 

 Kirkwall, Orkney, and one at Unst in the Shetlands. In Ireland it 

 has occurred at least twent)- times, either singly or in small flocks, 

 chiefly in the southern and eastern counties, and once near Belfast. 

 As a rule the visits of this species have been in autumn or early 

 winter, but occasionally in spring. 



To the Faeroes, Iceland, Scandina\"ia, Denmark, and the Baltic 

 Provinces the Glossy Ibis is a mere wanderer ; and north of the 

 Alpine ranges of Central Europe its appearance can only be con- 



