The Ibis. 
359 
during the breeding season. The Spoonbill migrates 
northward in the summer, and returns to southern 
climes on the approach of winter; and is found in all 
the intermediate low countries between the Faroe Isles 
and the Cape of Good Hope. 
Tlie American or Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea Ajaja) is 
very beautiful. Its colour is white, tinged with rose, 
which deepens in the wings and tail into the richest 
carmine. The feet are half-webbed, and the bird is 
generally found on the sea- coast, where it wades into 
the sea in quest of the small shell-fish of different kinds, 
on which it feeds. 
THE IBIS. (Ibis religiosa.) 
The Ibis was regarded as a sacred bird by the ancient 
Egyptians, who used to have these birds walking about 
in their temples, and embalmed their bodies after death 
with as much care as those of their priests and kings. 
The cause of this veneration is not clearly ascertained, 
some authors supposing it to be due to the services 
