THE LIVING WORLD. 
389 
the ancient Egyptians, and judging from the numbers which are constantly 
turning up in the tombs and pits of Sakkara and elsewhere in Egypt, and 
the accounts of Herodotus, Diodorus and Strabo, the ibis must have been very 
numerous and, like the brahmin bull in India, 
‘ did as it chosed.’ ” Dr. Adams further re¬ 
marks that every street in Alexandria is full 
of them. In certain respects they are useful; 
in others troublesome. They are serviceable 
because they pick up all sorts of small animals 
and the offal that is cast into the street, but 
they are extremely objectionable because of 
their thieving propensities and their dirty 
habits. 
Mummied ibises are usually found alone, 
though sometimes they appear with the sacred 
animals. Hermopolis was the patron city of 
this bird, but we find its remains also among 
the ruins of Thebes and Memphis. The White 
Ibis was also regarded as a sacred bird, hav¬ 
ing been first imported from Italy and kept 
in the temple of Isis. It was the emblem sacred ibis. 
of Troth, who was the secretary of Osiris, 
to whom fell the duty of recounting and perpetuating in writing the deeds 
of persons deceased. 
The ibis nests in tall trees, the mimosa being preferred and usually those 
which stand in the centre of a large morass. Like the herons, these birds are 
gregarious at breeding times, sometimes fairly covering a tree with their nests, 
which are 
very large but 
carefully 
made and 
lin e d with 
feathers. 
Three or four 
eggs of a 
greenish 
white and the 
size of a mal¬ 
lard’s are laid. 
The so-called 
sacred ibis 
has a white 
plumage. The 
scarlet ibis ( ibis faicineiius). Scarlet Ibis 
is a native of 
northern South America, but in summer it appears along the Florida coast, and occa¬ 
sionally as far north as North Carolina. It is one of the handsomest birds that is 
seen within the United States. The Glossy Ibis is also a North American 
visitor, though never seen in any considerable number. Like the scarlet ibis 
