118 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
probably none of these people have ever seen the real bird: 
They are the dupes of dragomen; and indignant as they 
would be if they were told it, the Buff-backed Heron has 
been passed off upon them as the vara avis, its unsuspicious 
character rather assisting than otherwise in keeping up the 
deception. This has been the real object of their aspira- 
tions, or some other white bird of the Heron tribe. 
The fact is that the only modern author who has fallen in 
with the genuine article, as far as my reading has carried 
me, is Savigny, and as the account which he gives of its habits 
seems to have been overlooked, I will quote him. He 
writes :— 
“Vers la fin du mois de fructidor de 1’an 8, [September, 1800] 
comme je descendois le Nil pour me rendre 4 Rosette, j’appergus 
les premiers Ibis blancs, neanmoins, je ne pus les suivre m’en 
procurer et les examiner attentivement que plus de trois mois 
aprés, pendant un sejour que je fis dans les environs de Damiette 
et de Menzalé. On voyoit encore, 4 cette époque, quantité d’Ibis 
noirs, mais deja les blancs commencaient 4 devenir rares; je ne 
les retrouvai méme en certain nombre que pres de Kafr-Abou-Said 
sur la rive gauche du Nil, 4 3,000 metres de ce fleuve et 4 20,000 
de Damiette dans de grandes inondations qui s’etendent jusqu’au 
lac Bourlos.” 
At p. 50 he says that during autumn Ibises of both species 
are found in the markets of Lower Egypt, particularly 
Damietta, with their heads cut off; and that the Glossy 
Ibis has been often brought him alive, and once the Sacred 
Ibis; and then at p. 52 he adds :— 
“Tl paroit que l’espéce séjourne en Egypte environ sept mois, 
au moins encore quelques individus 4 Kafr-Abou-Said, le 24 nivése 
(14 janvier).” 
Its extinction therefore must be of comparatively recent 
date. Fortunately it has not been extirpated altogether, 
like the Great Auk and the Nestor productus, It is still 
