454 



HYPOPTERON—IBIS 



the Martin and the Swallow, exhibit marked differences, and some 

 of those observed in the Picidx are described by Macgillivray 

 (Audubon, Orn. Biogr. v. pp. 542, 543, and B. Am. iv. pp. 223, 

 224, 289). 



HYPOPTERON, Sundevall's name for the lower humeral 

 coverts (see Axilla). 



IBIS, one of the most sacred birds of the ancient Egyptians, 

 which in modern times was identified by Bruce {Travels, v. p. 173, 

 pi.) with the AhovrHannes or "Father John" of the Abyssinians, 

 and in 1790 received from Latham [Ind. Orn. p. 706) the name of 

 Tantalus ssthiopicus. This determination was placed beyond all 

 question by Cuvier {Ann. du MusSum, iv. pp. 116-135) and Savigny 

 {Hist. Nat. et Mythol. de I' Ibis) in 1805, They, however, shewed the 

 removal of the bird from the Linnsean genus Tantalus to be neces- 

 sary, and, Lac^pMe having some years before founded a genus 

 Ibis, it was transferred thither, and is now generally known as I. 

 xthiopica, though some speak of it as /. religiosa. No useful purpose 

 would be served by dwelling on the vain attempts of older writers 

 to discover what the much venerated bird was, as on that score all 

 doubt has long ceased, or on the other synonyms applied to it by 

 later ornithologists, some of whom (and among them not the most 

 remote) have shewn little acquaintance with the literature of the 

 subject. Nor can the Ibis be here treated from a mythological or 

 antiquarian point of view. Savigny's memoir (above noticed) con- 

 tains much interesting matter on the subject. Wilkinson {Ancient 

 Egyptians, ser, 2, ii. pp. 217-22.4) has thereto added some of the 

 results of modern research, and latest of all Mr. Renouf in the 

 Hihhert Lectures for 1879 (pp. 116 and 237) concisely explains how 

 the bird came to be regarded as representing Thoth or Tehuti, the 

 moon-deity. 



The Ibis is chiefly an inhabitant of the Nile basin in Nubia, 

 from Dongola southward, as well as of Kordofan and Sennaar ; 

 whence (according to Savigny, whose opportunities for observation 

 seem to have been greater than those enjoyed by any European 

 since his time) about midsummer, as the river rises, it moves north- 

 wards to Egypt, and reaches the delta,^ passing over the inter- 



^ It has been said to occur occasionally in Europe (Greece and southern 

 Russia), but further evidence is needed before the assertion can be taken as 

 proved. 



