GRALLATORIA^r 31-1 



and, when dead, it was embalmed, because, according to some, it 

 devoured serpents, whicb otherwise might have been dangerous to 

 the country; according to others, because it bore some relation 

 in its plumage to one of the phases of the moon; while a third 

 class of authors were of opinion that its appearance announced the 

 overflow of the Nile*. The Tantalus of Africa was for a long time 

 considered as the Ibis of the Egyptians; it is now known to be a 

 bird of the present genus, as large as a hen, with white plumage, 

 the tips of the wing-quills excepted, which are black ; the barbs of 

 the last coverts are slender, and of a black colour, with violet reflec- 

 tions, and cover the tips of the wings and the tail. The bill and 

 feet, as well as the naked part of the head and neck, are black ; this 

 part, at an early age, is covered with small blackish feathers, or, at 

 all events, its upper surface is thus furnished. Found throughout 

 Africa f. 



Otiiers have scutellated legs; their bill, most commonly, is more slender. 

 lb. rubra; Scol. rubra,!,.; Tantal. ruber, Gm. ; Enl. 80 and 81 ; 

 Wils. VIII, Ixvi, 2. (The Red Ibis). A bird found in all the hot 

 parts of America, remarkable for its bright red colour ; the tips of 

 the wing-quills are black. The young ones, at first covered with a 

 blackish down, become cinereous, and, when ready to fly, whitish; 

 in two years the red makes its appearance, and continues to increase 

 in lustre with age. This species does not migrate, and lives in flocks 

 in marshy spots in the vicinity of estuaries. It is easily domesti- 

 cated. 



Scol. falcinellus, L. ; Courtis vert, Enl. 819; Naum. Ed. I, Supp. 

 28, Savig. Eg. Ois. pi. vii, f. 2. (The Green Ibis). A purple 

 brown-red; mantle of a deep green; the head and neck of the young 

 marked with whitish dots. It is a beautiful bird of southern Europe, 

 and of northern Africa, and most probably the species denominated 

 by the ancients the Black Ibis'^. 



NUMENITTS§, Cm\ 



The Curlews have the bill arcuated like that of the Ibis, but it is more 

 slender, and round throughout its length ; the tip of the upper mandible 



* Savigny, Mem. sur I'lbis. 



t There is a neighbouring species in the Moluccas, which has a longer bill, the 

 coverts less slender, and partly varied with white; long and pointed feathers on the 

 upper part of the breast (fb/s moliicca, Cnv.), and another in Bengal, with but slightly 

 attenuated ash-coloured coverts (Ibis bengala, Cuv.)- 



Add, lb. papulosa, T. Col. 304;— r««^ calvns, Gm., Enl. Ii67 •,—Ibis nudifrons, Spix, 

 86;— 76. oxijcercus, Id. 87;— T. albicollis, Gm., or Curicaca of Margr., Enl. 97G;— 

 Tatit. cayenncnsis, Gm., Eiil. 820 , — Ibis plumbens, T. Col. 235 ; — Tant. melaiiopis, Gra., 

 Lath. Ill, •p\.\yi\\x;—Ib.chalcnptern, Vieill. Gal. 246, or Tant. hogedash, Lath. 



X Add, Tantalus ulbus and T. coco, Gm.; Enl. 915; T. crislatiis, Id.; Enl. 841;— 

 Ibis leiicopt/gus, Spix, 88, if it should not prove to be the young of the ruber; — Tant. 

 leucocejihalHs, Lath. Ill, pl.lxxx, 2 (o). 



§ Numenius, derived from neonii'nie, new moon, on account of its crescent-sh ped 

 bill. 



(a) The T.ftisciis of Gin. is the young of the T. albus, Id.— Eng. Ed. 



