60 On the Ornithology of Wilts [^ScolopaeidcB]. 



straggler, at long intervals, appears in that classic land : and the 

 black and white Ibis, (" the Father of the Bills," as the Arabs 

 expressively term it,) must be sought for in Abyssinia, or still nearer 

 the equator. The Glossy Ibis, though certainly an uncommon 

 bird, is not amongst our rarest visitors, as scarcely a year passes 

 without the notice of the occurrence of one or more in different 

 parts of England, the fenny districts of Cambridgeshire, Lincoln 

 and Norfolk, being generally favoured : and I have the authority 

 of the late Rev. George Marsh for stating that a specimen was 

 killed at Whetham near Calne, the residence of the then Rector of 

 Yatesbury, Rev. W. Money, in the year 1825. The hook-shaped 

 beak, which is so striking a feature, and whence it has derived the 

 title of " Sickle-bill," enables this bird which is a true Wader, the 

 better to probe and search in the soft mud where it seeks its prey. 

 It was venerated in Egypt no less than its more distinguished 

 relative, and I brought home the embalmed bodies of these birds 

 both from Memphis and Thebes. 



SCOLOPACID^ (The Snipes). 

 Many of the species which compose this large family are well 

 known to the sportsman as well as to the epicure. The most 

 observable characteristic of the race is the long and slender round- 

 tipped beak, with which they are enabled to probe the soft earth 

 or mud and extract their prey, which consists of worms and various 

 insects and grubs ; for the Snipe family does not live on air, or on 

 nourishment derived by suction from muddy water, as is very often 

 popularly supposed. And yet these birds are in one sense truly 

 designated " birds of suction," for their beaks are marvellously 

 formed for the purpose required, by means of an unusual develop- 

 ment of highly sensitive nerves to the extreme tip, thus endowing 

 them with an exquisite sense of feeling : while at the same time 

 that member is further provided with a peculiar muscle, which, by 

 the closing or contracting of the upper part of the mandibles 

 operates so as to expand them at the point, and enables the bird, 

 with the beak still buried in the ground, to seize its prey the 

 moment it is aware of being in contact with it. Thus the delicate 



