and other Birds found in Egypt. 



177 



does not venture beyond the confines of the tropics. I 

 doubt, moreover, if it has any well authenticated claim 

 whatever to a place in European lists. 



The following analysis of the stomachs of several opened 

 by me testify to its varied diet. With reference to reptiles 

 forming its chief food, or that the species shows any par- 

 ticular predilection for these animals, is, I think, at best 

 doubtful. In common with its allies, such as the glossy 

 and black Ibis, &c., it no doubt devoured frogs, lizards, 

 and small snakes, along with fish, shells, and coleopterous 

 insects, and even carrion ; in fact, the species was a sort of 

 public scavenger, just as the Egyptian vulture and carrion 

 crow are to the present race, and the former, the adjutant, 

 and ground kite, are to the natives of Hindustan. 



Examination of the Gizzards of the Mummied Ibis, from Tombs 

 at Thebes, and near Memphis.^ 



B'pecime.n a. Contained numerous portions of small 

 beetles, with the legs of larger species, also small objects like 

 the naked seeds of wheat or barley, and several angular 

 fragments of stone. The legs of this specimen were in a 

 perfect state of preservation, owing to a solution of bitumen 

 having been painted on them, which has the appearance of 

 japanning. 



S'pec. h. The lower extremities, from not having been 

 preserved in the way just described, and merely covered 

 with a bituminous bandage, were very friable. The claws 

 were much elongated, overgrown and twisted ; the outer 

 claw and toe so much deformed as in all probability to have 

 greatly impeded the bird's movements. The skin on the 

 forehead was much shrivelled, and the bill and tarsi were 

 of a reddish-brown colour. The gizzard contained the 

 back-bone and ribs of a fish of small size. The plumes on 

 the back were distinctly traced in this specimen ; but ex- 

 cepting the centre portions of the wing quills, the original 

 colouring of the feathers was completely destroyed by the 

 bitumen. 



Spec. c. Wherever the bitumen had been sparingly 

 applied to the naked parts of the lower extremities or the 



* See note at conclusion of this paper. 



