2082 



HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES 



water-loving species, and, like its Indian cousins, may be met with in small or 

 moderate-sized flocks on the margins of rivers or lakes, or in the flooded rice fields, 

 where it wanders in search of the mollusks, insects, crustaceans, and worms, which 

 constitute its chief food. The flesh has a fishy taste, which renders it quite uneat- 

 able to Europeans. In the lore of Ancient Egypt the ibis was the emblem of Thoth, 

 the secretary of Osiris, and was consequently held in the greatest veneration, as is 

 proved by the numbers of its mummified remains found in the temples. At what 

 date it disappeared from Egypt is unknown, but it remained at the conquest of the 



THE SACRED IBIS. 



(One-fifth natural size. ) 



country by the Romans, by whom it was introduced into Italy. Among the other 

 genera of the subfamily we may first refer to the warty-headed or black ibis ( Ge- 

 ronticus papillosus}, of India, and the bald-headed ibis (G. calvus}, of South Africa, 

 as well-known representatives of an Old- World genus distinguished from the last by 

 the longer and more slender beak, the shorter toes, and the bald part of the head 

 being confined to the crown, as well as by the dark hue of the plumage. The In- 

 dian species has a triangular patch of red warts on the top of the head; the general 

 color of the upper plumage being dark brown, passing into black, with the wings 



