WADING 



453 



FlG. 381. SNIPE. 



ble each other very much in their form and general 

 habits, and frequently even in their colours, so that 

 it . is difficult to draw any well-marked distinctions 

 between them. They are, however, emphatically cha- 

 racterized by their beak, which is long, slender, and 

 feeble, so that it is principally used for probing the 

 soft earth in search of the grubs and worms upon 

 which they feed. To this tribe belongs 



The Ibis (Ibis); distinguished by the shape of its long and 

 slender bill, which is thick and square at the base, but gradually 

 tapering towards its extremity, and bent downwards like a bow ; the 

 head, and sometimes the neck, is partially denuded of feathers : 

 the outer toes are webbed at their base, and the hinder toe suffi- 

 ciently long to reach the ground. The most celebrated species is 

 the sacred Ibis of Egypt (Ibis religiosa}. By the ancient Egyptians 

 this bird was educated in their temples, and embalmed after its 

 death. It seems to have been an object of religious worship on 

 account of its habit of devouring serpents, or, perhaps, because its 

 appearance was generally simultaneous with the overflow of the 

 Nile, to which that country owes so much of its fertility. 



The Scarlet Ibis, met with in the tropical regions of America, is 

 a beautiful bird ; its body is of a brilliant scarlet, with the wing 

 feathers of a deep black. It may be seen in flocks in marshy places 

 near the mouths of rivers, and is easily tamed. 



