48 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Mar., 1905. 



R^are Living AniirriaLls 

 in London. 



By P. L. ScLATER, D.Sc, F.R.S. 



IV. — The Glossy Ibis. 



That the "Glossy Ibis," formerly kimun to the gunners 

 of the H.-istern counties as the " Blnck Curlew," was 

 much more abundant in the fens of Norfolk and Cam- 

 bridjjeshire in past years is certain, but whether it was 

 ever a regular breeding inhabitant of those districts 

 does not seem to have been clearly made out. In these 



easy, and secure from man's intrusion. In 1883 this 

 district was visited by Mr. W. Ivagle Clarke and a 

 party of Ornithologists, who subsequently published an 

 excellent account of their excursion in " The Ibis." In 

 a breeding station on the Save they found an enormous 

 colony of Herons of different species. Pigmy 

 Cormorants, Spoonbills, and Glossy Ibises engaged in 

 making their nests in the bushes amongst the reeds, 

 and forming a most attractive spectacle. Similar ac- 

 counts are given bv those who have visited the breeding 

 haunts of this bird on the (niadalc|ui\ir, in Southern 

 Spain, in the more sequestered lakes of India and 

 Ceylon, and even as far off as in Eastern Australia, 

 where, as w'e are informed bv Mr. A. J. Campbell, in 



The Qlossy Ibis. 



days, however, the Glnssy Ibis can only be classed as a 

 not very infrequent straggler to the British Islands, 

 mostly occurring in the eastern and southern counties. 

 But it is a bird of wide range, being found in suitable 

 localities all over Africa, Southern Asia, the Moluccas, 

 and as far off as F.asfern Australia, where it has lately 

 been a.scertaincd to nest more or less frequently. 



In Europe the principal strongholds of the Glossy Ibis 

 arc in the marshes of the I.owCr Danube, and the 

 swamps of the Guadalquivir, in Southern Spain, in both 

 of which Ifirnlities it breeds in large communities in 

 company with other water-birds. In the former 

 district, near Belgrade, and extending into the 

 vallevs of the Theiss and I he Save is an end- 

 less plain, covered with forests of reeds, which 

 is a perfect paradise for fish-eating birds of 

 all sorts. It is full of rivers and lakes, flooded 

 meadows, and half-submerged forests of willows and 

 alders, a combination well calculated to make bird-life 



his volume on the " Nests and Eggs of Australian 

 Birds," the Glossy Ibis was first detected breeding in 

 18S9. This Ibis is also found in the southern States of 

 North America, but in .South .America it appears to be 

 replaced by a closely-allied form, the While-faced Ibis, 

 distinguished by a narrow white line on I he front of 

 the beak. 



In the Zoological .Society's Gardens the (ilossy ll)is 

 was formerly f|uite a rare bird, the first record of its 

 presence there having been made in 1866. But in 

 Januarv, 1893, the Society purchased from a 

 dealer seven young specimens of the closely-allied 

 White-faced Ibis imported from Argentina, which at 

 that time could not be distinguished from examples of 

 the Glossy Ibis of the same age. These were placed in 

 the Great Aviary, where they did well. In August of 

 the same year they were joined by twelve specimens of 

 the European Glossy Ibis, presented by the late Lord 

 l.ilford, who had received them along with other water- 



