54 AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 



and as this overflow was heralded by the arrival of the migratory 

 Ibis from the South, it was natural for the Egyptians to connect 

 the rise of the river with this bird, and thus look for its approach. 

 Again, the Ibis is an insect destroyer, and, as Egypt was subject 

 to plagues of grasshoppers, it undoubtedly rendered as valu- 

 able service there as it does here. This is another reason that 

 has been assigned for the esteem in which this valuable bird was 

 held. However, it is now almost unknown in Egypt. 



In Australia we have three Ibises. One, the Sacred Ibis, or 

 White Ibis, is practically identical with the Sacred Ibis of Egypt. 

 Our second Ibis is the even more valuable Straw-necked Ibis, 

 which extends its labors to plains and pastures, while the Sacred 

 Ibis is rarely seen except on swampy lands. The Straw-necked 

 Ibis is restricted to Australia. It seems to be increasing in 

 numbers, for I have seen small and large flocks in many parts of 

 the Eastern States recently. It has an insatiable appetite for 

 grasshoppers and other insects. This bird is a valuable asset to 

 Australia, and yet thoughtless farmers used to shoot it. Mr. Le 

 Souef and Dr. C. Ryan came upon a flock of Ibises breeding in 

 Riverina. They estimated the flock to contain 240,000 birds. 

 They found that each bird shot contained on the average 

 2000 young grasshoppers. Think of it; 480,000,000 grasshoppers 

 a day! Where are those birds now, when needed to stem a locust 

 plague? We have to pay the price of our folly in destroying 

 valuable birds. A third Ibis is identical with the little Glossy 

 Ibis of Europe. 



The six Spoonbills are found throughout the world except in 

 New Zealand and the northern parts of North America. They 

 used to breed in England before man's selfishness and stupidity 

 destroyed them and their nesting-places. They breed at present 

 in the Murray swamps. 



The Australian Stork — the Jabiru — does not come to the 

 Southern parts of Australia, but breeds on the Queensland coast. 

 It is a quaint-shaped, though beautifully-colored, bird. Its large, 

 awkward-looking bill has a slight curve upwards. 



Now come those beautiful birds, the Egrets. Man's cupidity 

 and selfishness, and woman's desire for ornament, seem to have 

 doomed these birds to total extermination, for the plume trade, 

 which is responsible for some of the "most abominable cruelty 

 practised in the animal world," is a war of extermination. Egrets 

 are shy, and are approachable only in the breeding season. At 

 that time they are, in obedience to parental instincts, brave in 

 defence of their young. It is just then that the plume-hunters 

 visit the rookeries and shoot the parents, leaving the helpless, 

 almost fully-fledged, young to die in the nest, so high overhead. 

 And all for what? Could anyone who has seen the devastated 

 nests, with the famished bodies of the fledglings rotting in the 

 sun, ever take pleasure in Egret plumes decking the head of a 

 sister or wife? Women of refinement and tender heart will 

 refuse to wear the proceeds of human cruelty. Those en- 

 gaged in the trade resort to the mean trick of calling the 



