BIRDS. 



473 



regular nuisance, although it did some good as a scavenger. And when it 

 died, its body was embalmed and placed in the tombs. 



In the United States we have several species of ibises, but only one, the 

 white ibis, is at all abundant, and this is confined to the southern states. 

 Rarely the scarlet ibis of South America enters our limits, as also does the 

 jabiru. The scarlet ibis is one of the most beautiful of birds, and is a fre- 

 quent inhabitant of zoological gardens ; but in confinement the feathers lose 

 their beautiful scarlet hue and fade away to a rosy tint, scarcely less beau- 

 tiful. The spoonbills are merely modified ibises, in which the cylindrical, 

 regularly curved bill is broadened and flattened, so that it bears a distant 



Fig. 400. — Woodcock (Philohela minor). 



resemblance to a spoon. The European species figured is almost entirely 

 pure white, but our American species has the wing-coverts a bright red. 



The snipe family is a large one ; it embraces many species of great 

 interest to the sportsman, for here come the snipe and woodcock, the doe- 

 birds and curlews, and many others, some of which will be mentioned. In 

 all the bill is delicate, and is richly supplied with nerves, and thus plays an 

 important part in the search for food. In their hunting for means of sub- 

 sistence these birds probe the moist earth with the bill, and then the sensi- 

 tive surface comes into play ; for it aids in recognizing the presence of the 

 worms, etc., on which they feed. These ' borings ' are shown in the 

 adjacent cut of the woodcock ; but they subserve a purpose not contem- 



