SACRED IBIS. 51 



very quiet. In order to reach the room they had to 

 Avalk up four high steps, which caused them some 

 trouble. If he stretched out his hand to them they 

 came with the trembling movements of their heads, 

 before alluded to, and examined the hand carefully for 

 food. They were very fond of laying with outstretched 

 wings upon any soft substance. Towards other birds, 

 as the Heron, Bustard, and Nile Goose, they behaved 

 in a friendly manner, keeping with them night and day 

 in the most perfect amity. To protect them from cats 

 they were placed at night in a chest, which, as they 

 grew, was hardly large enough to contain them, yet 

 they sprung up eagerly into it as soon as the lid was 

 opened, and begun to arrange themselves for the night. 

 They seldom bathed, and when they did they stood up 

 to their knees in water, and made themselves wet all 

 over. Their call is an indescribable scream, 'kek, kek, 

 kek, kek.' 



In spite of being inhabitants of a tropical climate, - 

 they seemed oppressed by the heat, and if exposed 

 much to the sun would breathe deeply with their 

 mouths open. At the end of October of the second 

 year, three of them were fully grown, and had learned 

 to fly. They first went on the lowest wall of the 

 farm-yard and the house, from whence they would 

 return in a quarter of an hour. They then began to 

 make flights round the house. By the end of November 

 the whole six had learned to fly, and they made great 

 excursions, leaving the farm-yard every morning, making 

 wider circles round the house, and sometimes going 

 out of sight, but they always came back in half an 

 hour. After many months they strayed further away 

 from home, and at last went away altogether, though 

 they did not readily forget their home, as one of them 



