ARDEIDJE. 867 



GLOSSY IBIS, His falcinelliis. One specimen of 

 this rare summer visitor having been killed in this 

 county, in a part of the Marsh called Turf Moor, in 

 the autumn of 1859 or 1860, I have to include it in 

 this list : it was sent to Mrs. Tuiie, the birdstuffer, 

 at Taunton, for preservation, and was there seen, 

 while still in the flesh, hy Mr. Haddon, Mr. Bidgood 

 and several others : it is now, I believe, in the pos- 



session of the person who shot it. Several speci- 

 mens have been taken, at different times, in the 

 neighbouring counties of Devon and Dorset. In 

 different stages of plumage this bird has gone under 

 various names, as the "Bay Ibis" and the " Green 

 Ibis:" in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth, where 

 it appears at one time not to have been very un- 

 common, it was called by the old gunners the 

 " Black Curlew," as, in consequence of the down- 

 ward curve of its beak, it somewhat resembles that 

 bird. It frequents muddy swamps and bogs, amongst 

 which it breeds, making a nest of dried grasses, 

 flags, &c. 



As may be supposed from the nature of its 

 favourite haunts, the food of the Glossy Ibis con- 

 sists of aquatic insects and their larvae, worms, 

 beetles, crickets, snails, mussels, small frogs and 

 small fish.* 



The beak is long and slender, curved downwards, 



* Meyer's ' British Birds,' vol. iv., p. 189. 



