GLOSSY IBIS. 233 



one obtained in Ayrshire. One was shot near Kirkwall, in 

 Orkney, in October 1857 ; and an immature bird at Unst, in 

 the Shetlands, in October 1862, after a south-westerly gale. 

 On the 4th October, 1880, a male in good condition was shot 

 on the mud-flats near the mouth of the Ythan, Aberdeen- 

 shire. 



On the western side of England this species is decidedly 

 uncommon, but it has occurred several times in Lancashire, 

 and, according to Montagu, " The Ibis is adopted as a part 

 of the arms of the town of Liverpool. This bird is termed 

 a Liver, from which that flourishing town derived its name, 

 and is now standing on the spot where the Pool was, on the 

 verge of which the Liver was killed." The arms of the 

 town of Liverpool are, however, comparatively modern, and 

 seem to have no reference to the Ibis. The bird which was 

 adopted in the arms of the [extinct] Earls of Liverpool, 

 was described in a former edition of Burke's Peerage as a 

 Cormorant holding in the beak a branch of sea-weed. In 

 the Plantagenet seal of Liverpool, which is believed to be of 

 the time of King John, the bird has the appearance of a Dove 

 bearing in its bill a sprig of olive, apparently intended to refer 

 to the advantages that commerce would derive from peace. 

 For a drawing of this ancient seal, with various other par- 

 ticulars, and also for a notice of the occurrence of an Ibis 

 near the town of Fleetwood, on the river Wyre, the Author was 

 indebted to the kindness of Mr. John Skaife, of Blackburn. 



The Rev. Hugh Davis, the friend of Pennant, has noticed 

 that a flock visited Anglesey, of which four or five were 

 shot ; and a bird was obtained in Caermarthenshire in April 

 1858. Two were seen, and one shot, near Shrewsbury, on 

 the 3rd October, 1853. In Cornwall and the Scilly Islands 

 several occurrences have been recorded, at considerable in- 

 tervals, and always in the autumn. To Devonshire its visits 

 have been rather more frequent, although they have rarely 

 extended to Somersetshire ; and a good many birds have been 

 attracted by the congenial district near Poole Harbour in 

 Dorsetshire. Examples have occurred from time to time 

 on the coasts of Hampshire, Sussex, and Kent ; and a few 



VOL. IV. H H 



