STRAW-NECKED IBIS. 141 



CHAPTER CXXXIV. 



Straw-necked Ibis. 



(Carphihis spinicollis, Reich.) 



The Straw-necked Ibis I unhesitatingly place at the 

 head of the list of the insect-destroying birds of Australia. 

 Others who differ from me place the highly-valued White- 

 fronted Heron or Blue Crane before it, but this matters 

 but little, both birds being of the best. This fine bird is 

 bare on the head and upper portions of the neck, with a 

 singular appendage of straw-like feathers, hence its common 

 name. The composition of these singular feathers gives 

 it a most strange appearance, and quite unlike that of 

 any other Australian bird. In height, when standing 

 erect, it is about 20 inches, sometimes more. The colour 

 of the wings is of a beautiful bluish bronze, somewhat 

 difficult to describe, and more difficult still to reproduce 

 faithfully. The legs are reddish, with a lighter colour 

 towards the lower portion of the breast. 



The Straw-necked Ibis frequently occurs in immense 

 numbers, and Gould mentions that after the severe drought 

 in 1839 he found this bird in such abundance on the Liver- 

 pool Plains, New South Wales, that to compute the number 

 of birds in a single flock was simply impossible. In the 

 North-eastern districts of Victoria, I have seen them in 

 flocks of hundreds, and, in the grasshopper season, by 

 thousands They have a great appetite, and the number 

 of hoppers and other insects which they will devour is 

 beyond all attempt at calculation. As destroyers of 

 crickets they are without a rival, save, perhaps, the 

 White-fronted Heron before referred to. 



