ON THE IBIS. 329 



cibus, rostro et pedibus nigris, remigibus secon- 

 dariis elongatis nigro-wolaceis. 



4. The black ibis of the ancients is probably 

 the bird which we know in Europe under the 

 name of Green Curlew, or the Scolopax Falci- 

 nellus of Linnaeus. It also belongs to the genus 

 Numenius, and to the sub-genus Ibis. 



5. The Tantalus Ibis of Linnaeus, in the pre- 

 sent state of synonymy, comprehends four species 

 of three different genera, namely, 



1. A Tantalus, the ibis of Perrault and Buf- 

 fcn; 



2. An Ardea, the ibis of Hasselquist ; 



3. and 4. Two Numenii, the ibis of Belonius, 

 and the ox-bird of Shaw. 



From this example, and so many others, one 

 may judge of the state in which the Sy sterna Na- 

 tura still exists, which it would be of so much 

 advantage to purge by degrees of the errors with 

 which it abounds, and which would seem to be 

 every day increasing, by the addition of species, 

 characters, and synonyms, made without selec- 

 tion and without critical examination. 



The general conclusion of the whole investiga- 

 tion is, that the Ibis still exists in Egypt, as it 

 did in the days of the Pharaohs, and, that it was 

 owing to the inaccuracy of naturalists that the 

 species was for some time thought to be extinct, 

 or to have been altered in its forms. 



