Glossy Ibis. 411 



Norfolk being generally favoured ; and I have the authority of 

 the late Rev. George Marsh for stating that a specimen was 

 killed at Whetham near Calne, the residence of the then Rector 

 of Yatesbury, Rev. W. Money, in the year 1825. The hook- 

 shaped beak, which is so striking a feature, and whence it has 

 derived the title of 'Sickle-bill,' enables this bird, which is a 

 true Wader, the better to probe and search in the soft mud 

 where it seeks its prey. It was venerated in Egypt no less than 

 its more distinguished relative, and I brought home the em- 

 balmed bodies of these birds both from Memphis and Thebes, 

 some of which are enclosed in red earthenware pots, with their 

 covers still cemented to the top, and having externally a very 

 modern appearance ; but if one is opened and examined there is 

 no mistaking the bird within, swathed and bandaged though it 

 has been for 3000 years or more. By some modern ornithologists 

 the r good old generic name of Ibis is discarded, and Plegadis 

 substituted in its place ; and though the meaning of that word, 

 ' of a sickle/ is appropriate enough, it is but a repetition of the 

 specific name, falcinellus, which also means ' a little sickle.' It 

 is the ' Black Curlew ' of European sportsmen, and the Svart 

 Ibis of Sweden. In North Africa, Canon Tristram found a 

 Glossy Ibis here and there among clouds of Buff-backed and 

 Night Herons, like a black sheep in a flock; and the Arabs, 

 seeing this dark-plumaged stranger among so many white birds, 

 have named it Mdazet et Md, ' the Devil's Crow.'* Hence it is 

 known in Spain as Garza diablo ; in France it is simply Ibis 

 falcinelle ; but in Germany Sichelschnabliger Nimmersat, 

 ' Sickle-billed never satisfied ;' and in Italy, Chiurlo, ' Dolt.' 

 ' Ibis ' is said to be a word of Coptic or Egyptian origin (Skeat). 



It was our countryman, Colonel Montagu, who made careful 

 investigation into the subject, and unravelled the mystery which 

 then prevailed in regard to the several so-called species of Ibis, 

 and proved that the Bay, the Green, and the Glossy were all 

 one and the same species, but differing in plumage according to 

 sex, season and age.-f- 



Ibis for 1860, p. 78. f See supplement to Ornith. Diet, in loco. 



