G90 THE STEAW-NECKED IBIS. 



The colour of the adiilt bird is mostly pure silvery white, the feathers being glossy and 

 closely set, \vith the exception of some of the secondaries, which are elongated and hang- 

 gracefully over the wings and tail. These, together with the tips of the primaries, are 

 deep glossy black, and the head and neck are also black, but being devoid of feathers 

 have a slight brownish tinge, like that of an ill-blacked boot, or an old crumpled black 

 kid glove. While young, the head and neck are clothed with a blackish down, but when 

 the bird reaches maturity, even this slender covering is shed, and the whole skin is left 

 bare. The body is little larger than that of a common fowl. 



Anothek species, the Glossy Ibis, is also an inhabitant of Northern Africa, but is 

 sometimes found in this country, where the fishermen know it by the name of Black 

 Curlew. It is probably the Black Ibis mentioned by Herodotus. 



The Glossy Ibis is sometimes found in different parts of America, rarely in the 

 northern States, but of more frequent occurrence in the centre or south. Audubon 

 remarks that he has seen great numbers of these birds in Mexico, where it is a summer 

 resident only. In England a stray specimen or two alight on our shores in the course of 

 the migration, and in the ornithological annals of this country there are few years without 

 the mention of a Glossy Ibis being seen or killed in some part of the British Isles. 



The habits and food of the Glossy Ibis are much the same as those of the last- 

 mentioned species, and, like that bird, it was invested wliile living with sacerdotal honours 

 by the ancient Egyptians, embalmed and honoured after death with a consecrated tomb, 

 in common with the bull, the cat, and the sacred Ibis. 



The plumage of the Glossy Ibis varies somewhat according to the age of the bird, so 

 that according to Yarrell the same species has been termed the Glossy Ibis, the Green 

 Ibis, and the Bay Ibis, by various authors, the difference of colour being due to the more 

 or less advanced age of the individual. Both sexes have similar plumage, but the female 

 is smaller than her mate. 



In the full-grown bird, the head, neck, and part of the back between the shoulders are 

 dark chocolate, and the wing-coverts and tertials are a still darker brown glossed with purple 

 and green. The quill-feathers of the wings are dark blackish brown glossed with green, 

 and the tail is of a similar hue, but glossed with purple. The breast and under surface of 

 the body are chocolate brown, changing to a duller hue under the wings and upon the under 

 tail-coverts. The beak is dark brown with a tinge of purple, the naked skin round the eyes 

 is greyish gi-een, the eyes are hazel, and the legs and toes green. In total length this species 

 measures not quite two feet. The young bird is more mottled than the adult, and has little 

 of the bright glossiness of the plumage. The head and neck are dull brown streaked with 

 grey, the whole of the upper surface, together with the wings and tail, are dark reddish 

 brown, and there are a few irregular patches of white upon the breast. 



The Steaw-necked Ibis derives its name from the tuft of stiff naked feather-shafts 

 which hang from the front of the neck and breast, and greatly resemble small yellow straws. 

 These curious feathers, with their light polished, golden surface, afford a pretty contrast 

 to the glossy green black of the chest and wings, and the pure white of the neck and 

 abdomen. The following description of the bird and its habits is written by Mr. Gould, 

 in the " Birds of Australia." 



" This beautiful Ibis has never yet been discovered out of Australia, oA' er the whole 

 of which immense country it is probably distributed, as it is more abundant in certain 

 localities at one season than at another ; its presence, in fact, appears to depend upon 

 whether the season be or be not favourable to the increase of the lower animals upon 

 which the vast hordes of this bird feed. After the severe drought of 1839, it was 

 in such abundance on the Liverpool plains, that to compute the number in a single flock 

 was inq^ossible. It was also very numerous on the seaside of the great Liverpool range, 

 inhabiting the open downs and flats, particularly such as were studded wdtli shallow 

 lagoons, through which it would wade knee-liigh in search of shelled molluscs, frogs, 

 newts, and insects ; independently of the food I have mentioned, it feeds on grasshopj^ers 

 and insects generally. The natives informed me that sometimes many seasons elapsed 

 without the bird being seen. AVhere then does it go ? To what country does it pass ? 



