518 CLASS AVES. 



sometimes resting on one foot only. The same naturalist 

 remarks, that the white ibis sometimes goes alone, and some- 

 times in small troops of from eight to ten, while the black 

 species, more numerous, forms flocks of from thirty to forty. 



Having thus, in our general view, noticed the habits of the 

 two species which visit Egypt, and which habits to a certain 

 point are applicable to all, we have nothing to add respect- 

 ing the sacred ibis (Ibis Religiosd) in this place. Of the 

 other, which Belon has called the black ibis, and which is the 

 Green Ibis {Scol. Falcinellus), we can only observe, that, like 

 the white, it inhabits the banks of lakes and rivers. It nestles 

 in Asia, but comes periodically into Egypt, and is a bird of 

 passage in Poland, Hungary, Turkey, and the Archipelago. 

 It also visits the banks of the Danube, Switzerland, and has 

 been accidentally seen in Holland, and in this country. The 

 plate of the Black-faced Ibis is from a specimen at the 

 British Museum. Its specific characters are stated at 

 page 362. 



The Scarlet Ibis is a native of America, These birds live 

 almost always in flocks, and the old ones most frequently 

 form distinct and separate bands. Their flight is rapid and 

 sustained, but they do not put themselves in motion, except 

 in the morning and evening, for the purpose of seeking their 

 food, wliich consists of insects, shell animals, and small fishes, 

 collected in the slime along the sea^coast, or at the mouths of 

 rivers. During the greatest heat of the day and at night, 

 they remain in sheltered places. The broods commence in 

 January, and are concluded in INIay. They deposit their eggs, 

 which are greenish, in large tufts of grass, or on little piles 

 collected in the brush-wood. These ibides are spread through- 

 out the warmest countries of America, and being not at all 

 wild, they are easily accustomed to live in houses. M. de la 

 Borde mentions his having kept one for more than two years. 

 It was fed with bread, raw or cooked meat, and fish ; but it 

 gave the preference to the entrails of fish and fowl. It would 



