BLUE IBIS 123 
the addition of aplomado, or barroso, or de las lagunas, 
to distinguish it from the Winter Vanduria. The 
word is also frequently spelt Manduria or Banduria, 
but it does not come from bandada (flock), as Mr. 
Barrows imagines when he gives this vernacular name 
to the Glossy Ibis, but from the Spanish stringed 
instrument called vandiria. Possibly the instrument 
is obsolete now; not so the word, however, and it 
is sometimes used by the poets, instead of “ harp ” 
or “ lyre ’” to symbolise poetic inspiration, especially 
in mock heroic compositions. Thus Iriarte : 
Atencion! que la vanduria he templado. 
p 
If one could get a banjo with brass strings so big 
that it could be heard a mile and a half away, a dozen 
strokes dealt in swift succession on one string would 
produce a sound resembling the call of this Ibis— 
a voice of the desolate marshes, which competes in 
power with the outrageous human-like shrieks of 
the Ypecaha Rail, the long resounding wails of the 
Crazy Widow or Courlan, and the morning song of 
the Crested Screamer. : 
The Vanduria is usually seen singly or in pairs, 
and sometimes, but rarely, in small companies of 
half a dozen birds. In its habits it is like a Tantalus, 
' wading in the shallow water of the marshes, and 
devouring eels, frogs, fish, etc. After examining the 
well-filled stomachs of a few individuals one is 
strongly tempted to believe that the beautiful long 
beak of this Ibis has “‘ forgotten its cunning ” as a 
probe. At intervals in the daytime it utters, standing 
