GLOSSY IBIS. 
“5 
Danube, and is seen sometimes in Switzerland and Italy, 
though rarely in England and Holland; and is for seven 
nionths a periodical visitor in Egypt, where, in common with 
the Sacred Ibis, it was revered and embalmed in the vast cata- 
combs of Saccara and Memphis. It arrives in that country in 
October, and leaves it in the month of March. It is known to 
breed up the rivers of the Caspian and Black Seas, and to 
spread into Russia, Siberia, Tartary, Denmark, occasionally 
into Sweden, and perhaps Lapland, for the same purpose; 
remaining in those countries till driven to migrate by the 
inclemency of approaching winter, at which period it appears 
to arrive in Africa and Asia. It is a still more rare and acci- 
dental visitor in the United States than in England. A spe- 
cimen has occasionally been exposed for sale in the markets of 
Boston, and individuals are, at distant intervals, shot off Long 
Island and on the shores of New Jersey. At very irregular 
periods in the spring season, small flocks are thus seen on the 
coasu of the Middle States and as far south as Maryland and 
irginia. Vieillot also asserts their occasional appearance even 
m Cayenne, Iceland, and Greenland ; and they are found com- 
mon along the rivers in the island of Java and in the Celebes. 
The Ibises ordinarily dwell together in flocks in marshy 
mid inundated grounds, exploring for their food with great 
’■cgularity, side by side advancing, like disciplined troops in an 
extended line, perambulating the meadows they visit in pref- 
erence to making a desultory flight, and for hours they are 
observed boring the same spot with their long and sensitive 
I IS, when their prey is abundant. Sedate in their movements, 
e evating their feet high in walking, and as it were measuring 
e>r steps, they seem by the delicacy of their actions as if 
oonscious of the veneration and high regard symbolically 
^estowed upon them by the nations of antiquity. When, 
^ owever, alarmed, they rise high in the air, in a wide spiral 
cries, like Geese, and having attained a 
int^ ^ horizontal direction, uttering at 
^ hoarse sound, and their flight being vigor- 
S) they soon disappear from sight. They are said to nest in 
