AND NEIGHBOURROOD. 137 



this entry dated August 16, 1634, "4 Storkes at 

 2O5. the Storke." Of the edible qualities of this 

 bird I can say nothing from personal experience. 



170. GLOSSY IBIS. 



Ibis falcinelhis. 



The late Rev. M. Berkeley in a letter to me with 

 date of February 25, 1876, wrote : — " ' Falcinelhis ' 

 has been taken near Stilton ; Mr. Vyse had a very 

 fine specimen at Stilton, probably shot in the fens." 

 Colonel C. I. Strong writing on 29th of same month, 

 says : — " I have in adult plumage (at Thorpe Hall) 

 a Glossy Ibis female, procured in the neighbour- 

 hood of Whittlesey Mere, date written inside case. 

 May 31, 1825." Colonel Strong has since informed 

 me through a mutual friend that this bird was 

 killed near Yaxley, which is within a very short 

 distance of Stilton, and I am disposed to think that 

 Mr. Berkeley's note bears reference to Colonel 

 Strong's specimen. This is the only occurrence 

 of this species in the near neighbourhood of our 

 county with which I am acquainted. It seems from 

 the accounts given by various authors that this bird 

 was formerly sufficiently well known to the fen-men 

 of Norfolk, to have gained the name of "Black 

 Curlew," but I cannot believe that it was ever a 

 common or regular visitor to our country, and I am 

 convinced that in the old Suffolk proverb quoted by 

 Willughby, — to the effect that 



" A Curlew, be she white, be she hlack. 



She carries twelve pence on her back," — 



the word " black " does not refer to this bird, but 



