At 
Family IBIDIDA. 
GLOSSY IBIS. Plegadis falcinellus (Linneus). 
Colowred Figures.—Gould, Bade of Great Britain,’ vol. iv, pl. 
47; Dresser, ‘ Birds of Europe,’ vol. vi, pl. 409; Lilford, 
‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. vii, pl. 17. 
Over a hundred years ago the Glossy Ibis visited Great 
Britain and Ireland in sufficient numbers to be known by 
gunners and fishermen as the ‘Black Curlew. At the 
present day it is a rare and an irregular migrant in autumn, 
and still more so in spring. It has been recorded chiefly 
from the south-eastern and southern sections of England 
and from corresponding districts of Ireland. 
Perhaps the earlhest recorded Glossy Ibis from Great 
Britain was shot on September 28th, 1793. - It was flying at 
the time, in company with another, over the Thames, be- 
tween Henley and Reading. Latham (1790) also refers to 
one shot in Cornwall, and preserved in the Leverian Museum. 
Among specimens taken quite lately, may be mentioned one 
shot at Saltash, Devon, on October 4th, 1900 (Harting), 
another on November 25th of the same year, near Stockton- 
on-Tees, in Durham (T. H. Nelson, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1901, p. 185), 
a fine adult male obtained between Pevensey and Bexhill, in 
Kent or Sussex, on October 25th, 1902 (N. F. Ticehurst, 
‘ Zoologist, 1903, p. 419), and an immature bird taken in 
Norfolk, August, 1903 (J. H. Gurney, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1904, 
p. 208). 
As a visitor to Scotland the Glossy Ibis is very 
rare. According to Mr. Saunders six examples have 
been cbtained: of these, one came from Kirkwall in the 
Orkneys, and one from Unst in the Shetlands. Mr. Harting 
mentions one from the river Ythan, Aberdeenshire, obtained 
in October, 1880. With regard to Ireland, Mr. Ussher 
estimates that there have been twenty-two or more records, 
specimens having been obtained from midland, as well as 
from maritime counties. ‘The early records date back to 
