44 



Family IBIDIDM. 



GLOSSY IBIS. Plegadisfalcinellus(Lmn&us). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 

 47 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. vi, pi. 409 ; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vii, pi. 17. 



Over a hundred years ago the Glossy Ibis visited Great 

 Britain and Ireland in sufficient numbers to be known by 

 gunners and fishermen as the ' Black Curlew.' At the 

 present day it is a rare and an irregular migrant in autumn, 

 and still more so in spring. It has been recorded chiefly 

 from the south-eastern and southern sections of England 

 and from corresponding districts of Ireland. 



Perhaps the earliest recorded Glossy Ibis from Great 

 Britain was shot on September 28th, 1793. It was flying at 

 the time, in company with another, over the Thames, be- 

 tween Henley and Beading. Latham (1790) also refers to 

 one shot in Cornwall, and preserved in the Leverian Museum. 

 Among specimens taken quite lately, may be mentioned one 

 shot at Saltash, Devon, on October 4th, 1900 (Harting), 

 another on November 25th of the same year, near Stockton- 

 on-Tees, in Durham (T. H. Nelson, ' Zoologist,' 1901, p. 185), 

 a fine adult male obtained between Pevensey and Bexhill, in 

 Kent or Sussex, on October 25th, 1902 (N. F. Ticehurst, 

 ' Zoologist,' 1903, p. 419), and an immature bird taken in 

 Norfolk, August, 1903 (J. H. Gurney, 'Zoologist,' 1904, 

 p. 203). 



As a visitor to Scotland the Glossy Ibis is very 

 rare. According to Mr. Saunders six examples have 

 been obtained : of these, one came from Kirkwall in the 

 Orkneys, and one from Unst in the Shetlands. Mr. Harting 

 mentions one from the river Ythan, Aberdeenshire, obtained 

 in October, 1880. With regard to Ireland, Mr. Ussher 

 estimates that there have been twenty-two or more records, 

 specimens having been obtained from midland, as well as 

 from maritime counties. The early records date back to 



