ARDEID. 367 
Guiossy Ips, [bis falcinellus. One specimen of 
this rare summer visitor having been killed in this 
county, in a part of the Marsh called Turf Moor, in 
the autumn of 1859 or 1860, I have to include it in 
this list: it was sent to Mrs. Turle, the birdstuffer, 
at Taunton, for preservation, and was there seen, 
while still in the flesh, by Mr. Haddon, Mr. Bidgood 
and several others: it is now, I believe, in the pos- 
session of the person who shot it. Several speci- 
mens have been taken, at different times, in the 
neighbouring counties of Devon and Dorset. In 
different stages of plumage this bird has gone under 
various names, as the ‘“‘ Bay Ibis” and the “ Green 
Ibis:” in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth, where 
it appears at one time not to have been very un- 
common, it was called by the old gunners the 
“ Black Curlew,” as, in consequence of the down- 
ward curve of its beak, it somewhat resembles that 
bird. It frequents muddy swamps and bogs, amongst 
which it breeds, making a nest of dried grasses, 
flags, &c. 
As may be supposed from the nature of its 
favourite haunts, the food of the Glossy Ibis con- 
sists of aquatic insects and their larve, worms, 
beetles, crickets, snails, mussels, small frogs and 
small fish.* 
The beak is long and slender, curved downwards, 
* Meyer's ‘ British Birds,’ vol. iv., p. 189. 
