54 
AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 
and as this overflow was heralded by the arrival of the migratory 
Ibis from the South, it was natural for the Egyptians to connect 
the rise of the river with this bird, and thus look for its approach. 
Again, the Ibis is an insect destroyer, and, as Egypt was subject 
to plagues of grasshoppers, it undoubtedly rendered as valu- 
able service there as it does here. This is another reason that 
has been assigned for the esteem in which this valuable bird was 
held. However, it is now almost unknown in Egypt. 
In Australia we have three Ibises. One, the Sacred Ibis, or 
White Ibis, is practically identical with the Sacred Ibis of Egypt. 
Our second Ibis is the even more valuable Straw-necked Ibis, 
which extends its labors to plains and pastures, while the Sacred 
Ibis is rarely seen except on swampy lands. The Straw-necked 
Ibis is restricted to Australia. It seems to be increasing in 
numbers, for I have seen small and large flocks in many parts of 
the Eastern States recently. It has an insatiable appetite for 
grasshoppers and other insects. This bird is a valuable asset to 
Australia, and yet thoughtless farmers used to shoot it. Mr. Le 
j Souef and Dr. C. Ryan came upon a flock of Ibises breeding in 
I Riverina. They estimated the flock to contain 240,000 birds. 
They found that each bird shot contained on the average 
2000 young grasshoppers. Think of it; 480,000,000 grasshoppers 
a day! Where are those birds now, when needed to stem a locust 
plague? We have to pay the price of our folly in destroying 
valuable birds. A third Ibis is identical with the little Glossy 
Ibis of Europe. 
The six Spoonbills are found throughout the world except in 
New Zealand and the northern parts of North America. They 
used to breed in England before man's selfishness and stupidity 
destroyed them and their nesting-places. They breed at present 
in the Murray swamps. 
The Australian Stork — the Jabiru — does not come to the 
Southern parts of Australia, but breeds on the Queensland coast. 
It is a quaint-shaped, though beautifully-colored, bird. Its large, 
awkward-looking bill has a slight curve upwards. 
Now come those beautiful birds, the Egrets. Man's cupidity 
and selfishness, and woman's desire for ornament, seem to have 
doomed these birds to total extermination, for the plume, trade, 
which is responsible for some of the "most abominable cruelty 
practised in the animal world," is a war of extermination. Egrets 
are shy, and are approachable only in the breeding season. At 
that time they are, in obedience to parental instincts, brave in 
defence of their young. It is just then that the plume-hunters 
visit the rookeries and shoot the parents, leaving the helpless, 
almost fully-fledged, young to die in the nest, so high overhead. 
And all for what? Could anyone who has seen the devastated 
nests, with the famished bodies of the fledglings rotting in the 
sun, ever take pleasure in Egret plumes decking the head of a 
sister or wife? Women of refinement and tender heart will 
refuse to wear the proceeds of human cruelty. Those en- 
gaged in the trade resort to the mean trick of calling the 
