142 IBIDINJE. 



Whether the bird indicated by Giraldus, and other writers 

 of his time, be the same as the subject under consideration, 

 is a matter of considerable doubt. Although the remark of 

 the flocks in which they were seen induces us to believe them 

 to have been cranes, and not common herons, which are still 

 erroneously known over the entire island as cranes, and to 

 which the majority of persons pertinaciously attach that un- 

 meaning name, we should also recollect, that the crane at 

 that period was widely spread over the extensive marshes of 

 England, as even in Henry VI. 's time we find a forfeiture de- 

 clared of twenty pence for each egg of the crane taken or 

 destroyed; and again, at Archbishop Neville's feast 204 

 goodly cranes were served, and were valued so highly as 

 sixteen pence each. At the present time the crane has only 

 occurred in some five or six instances, two specimens of which, 

 obtained in the county of Cork, we had the pleasure of 

 examining. 



Habitat Northern Africa. 



FAMILY XXIX IBIDINJ2 (IBISES). 



GENUS LXX. IBIS (!BIS). 

 SPECIES 133 THE GLOSSY IBIS. 



Ibis falcinellus. Linn. 

 Ibis falcinelle. Temm. 



NOT inferior in interest to any of the preceding species is the 

 ibis, the only representative in our country of the wide-spread 

 and beautiful family to which it belongs. 



Like the spoonbill, it has chiefly occurred in autumn and 

 winter, and like that bird also in nearly similar proportions. 



One specimen of the ibis, obtained by Mr. P. Boylan, and 

 presented to the Dublin Natural History Society's Museum, 

 has come under our notice. Few of the wanderers from other 

 lands, occurring either by contrary winds, or the caprice of 

 the individual, have been so hallowed by time as this spe- 

 cies, being one of those birds selected as worthy of adoration 

 by the ancient Egyptians ; and although the present species is 

 not the white or sacred ibis which was in all cases honoured 

 by the priests of Egypt, yet the body was frequently embalmed, 

 and in some instances the eggs, which, after a lapse of some 

 thousand years, present little variation from recent specimens. 

 Well known to the Egyptians of the present day, both species 



