2CA General Notes. [July 



" Mr. Nuttall in vol. 2. p. 89, of his highly interesting work on Ameri- 

 can Birds, has given a full history of this species of Ibis, with a figure 

 shewing the Pyramids in the background. To this work we refer the 

 reader (who has access to it). Mr. N. says, ' it is a periodical visitor of 

 Egypt, where, in common with the Sacred Ibis, it was revered and em- 

 balmed in the vast catacombs of Saccara and Memphis. It arrives in that 

 country in October, and leaves it in the month of March. They spread 

 themselves into Russia, Siberia, Tartary, Denmark, occasionally in Swe- 

 den, and perhaps Lapland, remaining in those countries until driven to 

 migrate by the inclemency of approaching winter, at which period they 

 appear to arrive in Africa and Asia. It is a still more rare and accidental 

 visitor to the United States.' 



" 'So highly was it honored, that the Ibis became the characteristic hiero- 

 glyphic of the country; repeated upon all their monuments, obelisks and 

 national statutes. The abundance of their remains in the catacombs 

 proves indeed the familiarity which the species had with the indulgent 

 inhabitants of its favorite country. Diodorus Siculus says these birds 

 advanced without fear into the midst of the cities. Strabo relates, they 

 rilled the streets and lanes of Alexandria to such a degree as to become 

 troublesome and importunate. The Ibis is now no longer venerated in 

 Egypt, and is commonly shot and ensnared for food. The markets of the 

 sea coast are now abundantly supplied with them and a white species as 

 game — both of which are ignominiously exposed for sale deprived of 

 their heads, a spectacle from which the ancient Egyptians would have 

 recoiled with horror.' 



" The person who shot the Ibis at this place remarked, ' how tame it 

 was.' This confidence and easy familiarity with man would render it 

 entirely unfit for a residence in New England, where there is such a mur- 

 derous propensity to shoot the feathered race. 



"J. Barratt. 



"Middleto-wn, Ci., May 16, 1S50." 



The above account was reprinted in the 'Fourth Annual Report of the 

 Regents of the University on the Condition of the [New York] State 

 Cabinet of Natural History for the year 1S50' (1851), pp. 113-115- 



The Regents add: "A bird of the same species, shot by Mr. Hurst, on 

 Grand Island, in the Niagara River, in August, 1844, is now in the State 

 Cabinet. See Third Annual Report, p. 22." 



Dr. Barratt's specimen is in good condition in the Museum at Wesleyan 

 University, Middletown. — Jno. H. Sage, Portland, Conn. 



Geococcyx californianus — A Correction. — The writer published a memoir 

 entitled 'Contributions to the Anatomy of Geococcyx California nits,' which 

 was read Nov. 16, 1S86, and appeared in the 'Proceedings' of the Zoologi- 

 cal Society of London on April 1, 1SS7. He finds that the figures of the 

 muscles of the pelvic limb of the bird (pll. xliv and xlv) are somewhat re- 

 duced, whereas in the 'Explanation of Plates' it states that these parts are fig- 

 ured "life size." This error arose from the fact that the publishers 



