460 



THE SACRED IBIS AND THE GLOSSY IBIS. 



The general color of the Adjutant is delicate ashen gray above and 

 white beneath. The great head and proportionately large neck are 

 almost bare of covering, having only a scanty supply of down instead 

 of feathers. From the lower part of the neck hangs a kind of dewlap, 

 which can be inflated at the will of the bird, but generally hangs loose 

 and flabby. 



The Sacred Ibis is one of a rather curious group of birds. With 

 one exception they are not possessed of brilliant coloring, the feathers 



being mostly white and deep pur- 

 plish black. The Scarlet Ibis, 

 however, is a most magnificent, 

 though not very large bird, its 

 plumage being of a glowing scar- 

 let, relieved by a few patches of 

 black. 



The Sacred Ibis is so called be- 

 cause it figures largely in an evi- 

 dently sacred character on the 

 hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. 

 It is a migratory bird, arriving 

 in Egypt as soon as the waters of 

 the Nile begin to rise, and re- 

 maining in that land until the 

 waters have subsided, and there- 

 fore deprived it of its daily sup- 

 plies of food. The bird probably 

 owes its sacred character to the fact that its appearance denotes the 

 rising of the Nile — an annual phenomenon on which depends the 

 prosperity of the whole country. 



By the natives of Egypt it is called the Abou Hannes— i. e., Father 

 John— or Abou Menzel— i.e.. Father Sickle-bill—tlie former name 

 being in use in Upper and the other in Lower Egypt. 



The color of the adult bird is mostly pure silvery white, the feathers 

 being glossy and closely set, with the exception of some of the second- 

 aries, which are elongated and hang gracefully over the wings and 

 tail. These, together with the tips of the primaries, are deep glossy 

 black, and the head and neck are also black, but, being devoid of 

 feathers, have a slight brownish tinge, like that of an ill-blacked boot 

 or an old crumpled black kid glove. While young the head and neck 

 are clothed with a blackish down, but when the bird reaches maturity 

 even this slender covering is shed, and the whole skin is left bare. 

 The body is little larger than that of a common fowl. 



Another species, the Glossy Ibis, is also an inhabitant of Northern 

 Africa, but is sometimes found in this country, where the fishermen 



TiiE Sacred Ibis [Ibis relyiosa). 



