GLOSSY IBIS. 
25 
Though it may appear very extraordinary, it is not less true, 
that one of the two species of Ibis worshipped by the ancient 
Egyptians, their Black Ibis, has a claim to be included in our 
work as being an occasional visitant of the eastern shores of 
these states. This fact, which we would be among the first to 
• 
disbelieve were we to read of it in the eloquent pages of Buffon, 
is authenticated by the specimen here figured, which moreover 
is not a solitary instance of the kind. Thus, instead of being 
limited to a peculiar district of Egypt, as stated by Pliny, Solinus, 
and others, and reiterated by the host of compilers, this celebrated 
bird is only limited in its irregular wanderings by the boundaries 
of the globe itself. 
The credit of having added this beautiful species to the Fauna 
of the United States is due to Mr. Ord, the well known friend and 
biographer of Wilson, who several years ago gave a good history 
and minute description of it in the Journal of the Academy of 
Philadelphia, under the name of Tantalus mexicanus f His excel¬ 
lent memoir would have been sufficient to establish its identity 
with the species found so extensively in the old world, even if the 
specimen itself, carefully preserved in the Philadelphia Museum, 
did not place this beyond the possibility of doubt. 
Among the natural productions which their priests had through 
policy taught the superstitious Egyptians to worship, the Ibis is 
one of the most celebrated for the adoration it received, though 
for what reason it is not easv to understand. The dread of 
V 
noxious animals, formidable on account of their strength or 
numbers, may induce feelings of respect and veneration, or they 
may be felt still more naturally for others that render us services 
by destroying those that are injurious, or ridding man of anything 
that interferes with his enjoyments, or by ministering to his wants. 
We can conceive how a sense of gratitude should cause these to 
be held sacred, in order to insure their multiplication, and that 
VOL. iv.— G 
