IBIS FALCINELLUS. 313 



The Scarlet Ijbis [Ibis rubra, Cuv.]. 



This bird is about the size of our curlew, and in most respects 

 might be called, or supposed to be, a curlew of a very fine scarlet- 

 red. It is a wading bird, having pretty long legs, and naked above 

 what is called < the knee.' Its toes are pretty long, as is also the 

 back toe. The bill is long and slightly bent, very much like our 

 curlew, but thicker at the root. Its feathers are red, excepting at the 

 tips of the flight-feathers of the wings : the tail is short. This bird 

 had been kept tame ; and when I got it first, its feathers were of a pale 

 red ; but when it cast its feathers, the new set came out a fine red ; 

 first appearing mottled with a pale red and a deep red, which became 

 redder and redder till the whole was red. This circumstance shows 

 that the first mode of life was an artificial one or a life of civilization, 

 and that the animal was probably not so hardy ; but when allowed to 

 go at large in a large garden, it became of its natural red 1 . 



Although very like the curlew, yet it was of a very different species, 

 even genus 2 . It came into the house at night, and roosted with the 

 fowls ; but this might be supposed to have arisen from domestication, 

 yet could not entirely ; for although previously kept in a cage, as also 

 in a pen, which might give the inclination to going into a cover or house, 

 it would not give the inclination to roost. 



Its mode of feeding was very much that of the curlews, viz. running 

 the bill into holes, such as worm-holes, and picking out the worms, &c. 

 I had reason to think it fed upon corn. The tongue was short, even 

 for a bird. It had no crop : the stomach is a gizzard in shape, some- 

 what stronger than the pewit's ( Vanellus). The duodenum makes the 

 usual fold : the jejunum takes a sweep to the right, then down the 

 right, and in towards the left ; then up, almost making a circle, and 

 becomes a loose intestine, which is placed in this sweep. It then makes 

 another fold on itself, the termination of which passes down to form the 

 rectum. The two caeca are only two points ; therefore, in this respect, 

 this ibis is not like our curlew. 



The Long Bent-billed Curlew [Ibis falcinellus, Temm.]. 



It has no crop : the oesophagus is very large. The stomach is stronger 

 than that of the pewit, but not nearly so strong or so red as a hen's : 

 however, it has a pretty strong tendon on each side. The duodenum 



1 [The difference more probably related to the age of the bird than the circum- 

 stances under which it lived.] 



2 [Cuvier has since separated the curlews proper (Numenius) from the ibises.] 



