PHIMOSUS INFUSCATUS. 113 



as Mr. Barrows imagines when he gives this vernacular name to the 

 Glossy Ibis ; but from the Spanish stringed instrument called Vanduria. 

 Possibly the instrument is obsolete now ; not so the word, however, and 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 

 symbolize poetic inspiration. Thus Iriarte : 







" Atencion ! que la vanduria he templado." 



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 outra- 

 geous human-like shrieks of the Ypecaha Rail, the long resounding 

 \vails 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 

 els, frogs, fish, &c. 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 on the ground, its resonant metallic 

 cry. It is wary and has a strong easy flight, and is a great wanderer, 

 but I am not able to say whether it possesses a regular migration 

 or not. 



The celebrated naturalist Natterer procured specimens of this Ibis in 

 the lagoons of Caicara, in the Brazilian Province of Matogrosso, in 

 September and November, 1825, but it is not mentioned by general 

 writers on the birds of S.E. Brazil. 



330. PHIMOSUS INFUSCATUS (LichU 

 (WHISPERING IBIS.) 



Ibis infuscata, Bur m. La- Plata Reise, ii. p. 511 (Rio Parana). Phimosus 

 infuscatus, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl p. 127; Durnford, Ibis, 1378, p. 63 

 (Buenos Ayres) ; Salv. Ibis, 1880, p. 363 (Salta) ; Elliot, P. Z S. 1877, p. 495. 



Description. Plumage dark bronzy green, glossed with purple ; fore part and 

 sides of head and neck naked, red ; bill and feet red: whole length 24*0 inches, 

 wing ll'o, tail 6*0, bill 5'2. Female similar. 



Hob. South America from Colombia south to Argentina. 

 Of this Ibis, which ranges from Colombia to the Argentine Republic, 

 a few individuals come as far south as the pampas of Buenos Ayres. 

 The fore part of the head and throat being unfeathere:!, suggested to 



VOL. II. 1 



