BLUE IBIS 123 



the addition of aplomado, or barroso, or de las lagunas, 

 to distinguish it from the Winter Vanduria. The 

 word is also frequently spelt Manduria or Band&ria, 

 but it does not come from bandada (flock), 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 is obsolete now ; not so the word, however, and it 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 symbolise poetic inspiration, especially 

 in mock heroic compositions. 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 outrageous human-like shrieks of 

 the Ypecaha Rail, the long resounding wails 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 eels, frogs, fish, etc. 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 



