7 TIF c;i,ossv ir.is. 



105 



Winter Plumage. — DiTfcrs from the summer plumage in losiug 

 the rufous of the head, back, and scapulars ; rest of the plum- 

 age metallic as in the summer dress, but the wings rather mova 

 bronzy and the wingcoverts brighter metallic-green. The head 

 and neck are streaked with black and whitish. 



Young Birds. — Resemble the winter plumage of the adults, but 

 are more of a metalHc oil-green, without the beautiful reflections 

 shown by the adult birds at all seasons. Head dusky-brown, 

 with a certain amount of white striping on the head and throat, 

 but not so much as in the winter plumage of the adults. 



Eauge in Great Britain. — An accidental visitor in autumn or 

 early wi liter, but occasionally occurring in the spring. It has 

 been observed in Scotland and Ireland, and in England it has 

 l)een met with chiefly on the eastern coasts, where it appears to 

 have been more frequent towards the end of the last century, 

 when it was known to the gunners of Lynn in Norfolk as the 

 "Black Curlew." (Cf. Saunders, Man. p. 379.) 



Range outside the British Islands. — Common in Southern Europe 

 but rarer in the countries north of the Alp^, and only straggling 

 to Iceland or the F^^roes, as it does to Great Britain; the 

 same may be said of Northern Europe, where it has occurred 

 but seldom, and only as a straggler. Its eastern range extends 

 to Persia and Central Asia, India and China, whence it is 

 found all over the Malayan Archipelago and Australia. It also 

 occurs throughout Africa in localities suited to its habits, 

 and re-occurs in the Eastern United States to Florida, but in 

 the Southern United States, and throughout Central and the 

 greater part of South America, it is replaced by the closely 

 allied P. guaraiina. 



Habits. — The Ibis is a gregarious and sociable bird, feeding, 

 nesting, and migrating in company, and sharing the breeding- 

 haunts of the Herons, Egrets, and Pigmy Cormorants in the 

 vast reed-swamps which are found in Slavonia and the region 

 cf the Lower Danube. " The Ibis," says Mr. Seebohm, ""is a 

 thorough Heron in its habits, and frequents the same districts, 

 but, like the Night-Heron, it prefers the swamps and marshes 

 to the rivers and streams. Its flight resembles that of a Heron, 

 Qr perhaps more that of a Stork, for the legs droop at a slight 



