THE GLOSSY IBIS. 183 



Society of Dublin. They were shot in the month of October. In 

 November the fourth was procured in King's-county. Of the 

 fifth, particulars were not communicated. Two others were killed 

 in the county of "Wexford that season, and my informant states, 

 that in the summer of 1818, winch was very warm, several were 

 obtained there.* 



The ibis is known only as an occasional visitant to England, 

 though a much more frequent one than to Ireland; a single 

 individual is recorded to have occurred in Scotland (in Eife- 

 shire).f The regular line of migration of this bird towards 

 the north, in spring, is far to the eastward of the British Islands. 

 The eastern and southern parts of England are those most usually 

 visited, as the corresponding provinces are in Ireland. As 

 yet, we have no record of the occurrence of the species in 

 Connaught, and but one instance is known of its appearance in 

 Ulster. 



On the 24th of April, 1841, when H.M.S. Beacon was about 

 ninety miles east of Sicily — Syracuse the nearest land — I observed 

 a flock, consisting of twelve of these birds, appear at a distance, 

 coming from the south-west. They flew close past the vessel, 

 and continued in the same course (towards the north-east) until 

 lost to view. 



Although the bird under consideration is not the sacred ibis 

 {Ibis religiosa, Cuv.), it was honoured, in Egypt, by having its 

 body embalmed. The sacred ibis, having been killed of late 

 years in Greece, has now a place in the Eauna of Europe. £ 



* Mr. Wheelock, bird-preserver, Wexford, 

 f Mr. Hepburn in Yarr. Brit. Birds(1845). 

 + Temminck, Part iv. p. 392 (1840). 



