402 GRALLATORES. 



it are seen in Mexico. Cuvier says, this, to all appearance, is the 

 species which the ancients called Black Ibis. 



The WHITE or SACRED IBIS, Ibis religiosa, (see Chart.) is, per- 

 haps, the most celebrated species. Arriving in Egypt about the 

 time that the inundation of the Nile commences, its numbers 

 increase or diminish with the increase or diminution of its wa- 

 ters. It migrates about the end of June, at which time, it is 

 first noticed in Ethiopia. This species does not collect in large 

 flocks, more than eight or ten seldom being seen together. They 

 are about as large as a hen ; the head and neck are bare ; the 

 body white ; the primaries of the wings tipped with shining, 

 ashy black, among which the white forms oblique notches; the 

 secondaries are bright black, glossed with green or violet ; 

 the quill-feathers of the tail, white. This, and the preceding 

 species, were venerated by the ancient Egyptians, who used to 

 rear them in their temples, and after death, to embalm them. 

 Their mummies are found, to this day, in the vast catacombs of 

 ancient Memphis. Herodotus supposed that the Egyptians wor- 

 shipped the Ibis for services which it rendered in freeing them 

 from winged serpents. But this is contradicted by the bird's 

 structure : its bill is not fitted either to divide or pierce serpents, 

 but rather for dabbling in marshes an.d moist grounds. This 

 species is found throughout the extent of Africa. 



The WHITE IBIS, of the American Continent, Ibis alba, is 

 about two feet in length. It is a constant resident in South 

 Florida, where it abounds, but also breeds along the coast to 

 Texas, sometimes inland as far as Natchez and Red river, and 

 Eastward to New Jersey. 



Audubon says, Sandy Island, near Cape Sable, in Florida, is 

 remarkable for the number of these birds found there. He 

 counted forty-seven nests in a single palm-tree, "The nests are 

 fifteen inches in their largest diameter, formed of long twigs, in- 

 termixed with fibrous roots and green branches of the trees 

 growing on the island; the interior of them is flat, being fur- 

 nished with leaves of the cane and some other plants." The 

 bird lays but three eggs, once a year. Its flight is described as 

 l ' swift and long continued. Sometimes it rises to an immense 

 height in the air, while it performs beautiful evolutions." It 

 feeds on small crabs, slugs, and snails ; showing great ingenuity 

 in procuring cray-fish ; breaking up the upper part of the mud 

 which the latter throws up in forming its hole, and dropping the 

 fragments into the cavity. The cray-fish, burdened by the load 

 of earth^ makes its way to the entrance of the burrow, when the 



