ON THE. IBIS. 301 



opinions in natural history, who has not blunder- 

 ed respecting the true species of this bird ; and 

 his ideas with regard to this subject, however ac- 

 curate they were, have not even been adopted by 

 naturalists *. 



After several changes of opinion respecting the 

 ibis, it was seemingly agreed, at the period when 

 I published the first edition of this work, to give 

 the name of Ibis to a bird a native of Africa, al- 

 most of the size of the stork, with white plumage, 

 having the quills black, perched upon long red 

 legs, armed with a long arched beak, of a pale yel- 

 low colour, sharp at its edges, rounded at its base, 

 and notched at its point, and whose face is covered 

 with a red skin destitute of feathers, which do not 

 extend farther forward than the eyes. 



Such is the Ibis of Perrault f, the Ibis Candida 

 of Brisson J, the Ibis blanc d'Egypte of Buf- 



* Bruce, French translation, 8vo. vol. viii, p. 264 ; and 

 Atlas, pi. xxxv,, under the name of Abouhannes. 



fr Description d'un Ibis blanc et de deux cicognes, Aca- 

 demic des Sciences de Paris, t. iii, pi. iii. p. 6l. of the 4to 

 edition of 1734, pi, xiii. fig, 1, The beak is represented as* 

 truncated at the end, but this is a fault of the engraver, 



J Numenius sordide albo-rufescens, capite anteriore nudo 

 rubro, lateribus rubro purpureo et carneo colore maculatis, 

 remigibus majoribus nigris, rectricibus sordide albo rufes- 

 centibus, rostro in exortu dilute luteo, in extremitate au- 



