ON THE IBIS. 323 



agrees that it must have been made at Rome. 

 Saumaise upon Solinus says nothing that relates 

 to the present question. 



As to the black ibis, which Aristotle places 

 only near Pelusium * ; it was long thought that 

 Belon alone had seen itf , The bird which he 

 describes under this name is a species of curlew, 

 to which he attributes a head similar to that of 

 the cormorant, that is to say, apparently bald, a 

 red beak, and feet of the same colour ; but as he 

 does not speak of the ibis in his journey J, I sup- 

 pose that it was only in France that he made this 

 reference, and by comparison with mummies of 

 the Ibis. What is certain is, that this curlew, 

 with the beak and feet red, was not known in 

 Egypt , but that our green curlew of Europe 

 (Scolopax Falcinellus, Linn. PI. Enl. 819.) 

 is seen very commonly there, that it is even more 

 abundant than the white numenius || ; and, as it 

 resembles it in form and size, and, further, as its 

 plumage may appear black, it can by no means be 



* Buffon, Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, 4to, vol. viii. 

 p, 17, 



t Belon, Nature des Oiseaux, p. 159 and 200 ; and Por- 

 traits d'Oiseaux, folio 44, vers. 



i Observations de plusieurs singularites, &c, 

 Savigny, Meraoire sur 1'Ibis, p. 37, 

 || Idem, ibid. 



