IBIDIDA. 391 
THE GLOSSY IBIS. 
PLEGADIS FALCINELLUS (Linnzus). 
The Glossy Ibis is now only of accidental occurrence in the 
British Islands, but towards the end of the last century its visits 
appear to have been more frequent, and near Lynn in Norfolk it 
was known to gunners and fishermen as the ‘ Black Curlew.’ Inthe 
eastern and midland counties and on the estuaries of the south 
coast it has been observed more often than in the west, though it 
has occurred in Pembrokeshire and Lancashire ; it is even popularly 
—and erroneously—supposed to be the bird called the Zzver, figured 
in the arms of Liverpool. Northward it is decidedly rare, and only six 
examples seem to have been obtained in Scotland: one of them near 
Kirkwall, Orkney, and one at Unst in the Shetlands. In Ireland it 
has occurred at least twenty times, either singly or in small flocks, 
chiefly in the southern and eastern counties, and once near Belfast. 
As atrule the visits of this species have been in autumn or early 
winter, but occasionally in spring. 
To the Feroes, Iceland, Scandinavia, Denmark, and the Baltic 
Provinces the Glossy Ibis is a mere wanderer ; and north of the 
Alpine ranges of Central Europe its appearance can only be con- 
