ii2 I B I S. 



plumage reddifh white, raoft inclining to red on the back and 

 wings: quills and tail black: the legs are long, and the thighs 

 bare for three parts of their length ; the colour of them red : 

 the toes united as far as the firft joint. Hajfelquiji adds, that the 

 irides are whitifh, and the end of the bill, and the legs, black : 

 and that it is found in Lower Egypt in great plenty, in places 

 juft freed from the inundations of the Nile. It lives on frogs and 

 in f efts : feen in gardens, morning and evening, and fometimes 

 in fo great plenty, that whole palm-trees are covered with them : 

 when at reft they fit quite erect, their tail touching the legs. 

 This author believes it to be the Ibis recorded by the antients ; 

 firft, becaufe it is both common as well as peculiar to Egypt : 

 fecondly, as it eats /erpents as well as other things : and thirdly, 

 becaufe the urns, which contain the remains of embalmed birds, 

 found in the fepulchres along with the mummies, feem to contain 

 fuch as are of this fize. 



I fufpect it to be the Emfeefy or Ox Bird of Shaw. He defcribes 

 it as wholly white, except the bill and legs, which are of a fine 

 red : and fays it feeds in the meadows, with cattle : but the flefli is 

 unfavoury, and foon corrupts. 



1 1< 



L'Ibis, Brif. Or/i. v. p. 347. 13. 



BLACK I. ■ noir, Buf. Oif. viii. p. 17. 



Ibis of Bellonius, Rati Sjn. p. 98. — Will. Orn. p. 288. pi. 44. 



Description. T? ATHER lefs than the Curlew. Bill red: the fore part of 

 the head and behind the eyes bare, and of the fame co- 

 lour : the general colour of the plumage black : 'egs red. 

 Place. The black Ibis, like the white, is an inhabitant of Egypt, and 



the more ftrictly fo, as it is never found out of it, none being 



met 



