SACRED IBIS . — Ibis religiosa. GLOSSY IBIS . — Ibis falcinellus. 
The Sacred Ibis is so called because it figures largely in an evidently sacred 
character on the heiroglyphics of ancient Egypt. It is a migratory bird, arriving 
in Egypt as soon as the waters of the Nile begin to rise, and remaining in that 
land until the waters have subsided, and therefore deprived it of its daily supplies of 
food. The bird probably owes its sacred character to the fact that its appearance 
denotes the rising of the nile, an annual phenomenon on which depends the 
prosperity of the whole country. 
Another species, the Glossy Ibis, is also an inhabitant of Northern Africa, 
but is sometimes found in this country, where the fishermen know it by the name 
of Black Curlew. It is probably the Black Ibis mentioned by Herodotus. 
The Glossy Ibis is sometimes found in different parts of America, rarely in the 
northern States, but of more frequent occurence in the centre or south. 
Its food consists mostly of molluscs, both terrestrial and aquatic, but it will eat 
worms, insects, and probably the smaller reptiles. 
226 
