454 HYPOPTERON—IBIS 
the Martin and the Swallow, exhibit marked differences, and some 
of those observed in the Picidx are described by Macgillivray 
(Audubon, Orn. biogr. v. pp. 542, 543, and B. Am. iv. pp. 223, 
224, 289). 
HYPOPTERON, Sundevall’s name for the lower humeral 
coverts (see AXILLA). 
I 
IBIS, one of the most sacred birds of the ancient Egyptians, 
which in modern times was identified by Bruce (Zvravels, v. p. 1738, 
pl.) with the Abou-Hannes or “Father John” of the Abyssinians, 
and in 1790 received from Latham (Jnd. Orn. p. 706) the name of 
Tantalus axthiopicus. This determination was placed beyond all 
question by Cuvier (Ann. du Muséum, iv. pp. 116-135) and Savigny 
(Hist. Nat. et Mythol. de Ibis) in 1805. They, however, shewed the 
removal of the bird from the Linnean genus Zantalus to be neces- 
sary, and, Lacépéde having some years before founded a genus 
Ibis, it was transferred thither, and is now generally known as J. 
xthiopica, though some speak of it as J. religiosa. No useful purpose 
would be served by dwelling on the vain attempts of older writers 
to discover what the much venerated bird was, as on that score all 
doubt has long ceased, or on the other synonyms applied to it by 
later ornithologists, some of whom (and among them not the most 
remote) have shewn little acquaintance with the literature of the 
subject. Nor can the Ibis be here treated from a mythological or 
antiquarian point of view. Savigny’s memoir (above noticed) con- 
tains much interesting matter on the subject. Wilkinson (Ancient 
Egyptians, ser. 2, ii. pp. 217-224) has thereto added some of the 
results of modern research, and latest of all Mr. Renouf in the 
Hibbert Lectures for 1879 (pp. 116 and 237) concisely explains how 
the bird came to be regarded as representing Thoth or Tehuti, the 
moon-deity. 
The Ibis is chiefly an inhabitant of the Nile basin in Nubia, 
from Dongola southward, as well as of Kordofan and Sennaar ; 
whence (according to Savigny, whose opportunities for observation 
seem to have been greater than those enjoyed by any European 
since his time) about midsummer, as the river rises, it moves north- 
wards to Egypt, and reaches the delta,’ passing over the inter- 
1 Tt has been said to occur occasionally in Europe (Greece and southern 
Russia), but further evidence is needed before the assertion can be taken as 
proved. 
