436 GLOSSY IBIS. 
of small aquatic testaceous mollusca, and they do not disdain 
such small worms and insects as they may meet with: they are 
supposed to live chiefly on leeches (whence their Tuscan name 
Mignattajo), but erroneously, none of these having ever been 
found in their stomachs either by Professor Savi or myself. 
From what is observed in Europe, the regular migration of 
these birds appears to be in the direction of south-west and 
north-east. Every circumstance leads to the belief that they 
come to us in Central Italy through Sardinia and Corsica from 
the coasts of Barbary, and continue their journey hence to the 
vast marshes of Eastern Europe and the Caspian Sea, where 
they are well known to breed, though nothing is yet ascertained 
of their mode of propagation. Be this as it may, the glossy 
ibis in the north and west of Europe is a very rare bird, and 
merely a straggler, whilst it is common at its passage in 
Poland, Hungary, Southern Russia, Turkey and Greece, 
especially the islands of the Archipelago. It is found also 
in Austria and Bavaria, and in other parts of Germany, 
especially on the Danube; and occasionally near the lakes 
of Switzerland, but hardly ever in Holland, the north of 
France, or England. In Sweden it is also met with, though 
extremely rare: it has been observed in Gothland, along the 
marshes of the interior parts of the island, and been killed in 
Scania: it is registered among the rare birds that visit Iceland. 
It has been found common along the rivers of the islands of 
Java and the Celebes; is periodically known during seven 
months in Egypt, coming in October and disappearing in 
March : it is later in coming, and disappears after, and in 
quite a different direction from the white sacred kind: like 
this, they follow the overflowing of the Nile, retiring gradually 
as the water becomes too deep. It is very common about the 
Black, and especially the Caspian Seas, the great rendezvous 
and breeding-place of waders, where appears to be their chief 
quarters, and whence they spread into Siberia and Tartary. 
Great numbers are also met with in the Ural Desert. The 
Arabs in Egypt kill the glossy ibis by shooting them, and 
