The flight of this Ibis is lofty and strong, and it utters a loud and peculiar cry as it passes through the air. According to Sagra, this species breeds in December and January. The eggs, three or four in number, are laid upon the ground, and have a greenish shell. Schomburghk states that young and adult birds do not associate with each other, but unite in distinct bands. The Scarlet Ibis is sometimes domesticated, and accompanies the poultry, occasionally showing great courage in defending itself, not only from their attacks, but from those of cats. The flesh is generally esteemed as good food, and the rich and gaudy plumage is used by the Brazilians for various kinds of ornamentation.
THE WHITE, EGYPTIAN, OR SACRED IBIS.
[Pg 57]
THE WHITE OR SACRED IBIS (Threskiornis religiosa). ONE-FIFTH NATURAL SIZE.
The WHITE, EGYPTIAN, or SACRED IBIS (Threskiornis religiosa, or Geronticus Æthiopica), represents a group having the head and neck bare, and the webs of the shoulder-feathers disunited or open, and loose at their extremities. The plumage is principally white, with a yellowish shade on the wings, and blueish black tips to the quills and shoulder-feathers. The eye is carmine-red, the beak black, and the foot blackish brown. The bare black skin on the neck is of a velvety texture. In the young birds the head and throat are covered with dark brown and blackish feathers edged with white; the rest of the plumage resembles that of the adult bird. After the first moulting the young attain the streaming shoulder-feathers, but only exhibit the bare head and neck in their third year. This species is from twenty-eight to twenty-nine inches long, and fifty-one broad; the wing measures from thirteen to fourteen, and the tail six inches. This bird has been the subject of many strange tales from the most remote times, and is called the Sacred Ibis because it figures extensively, and evidently in a religious character, on the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt. It is not improbable that the estimation in which it was held arose from the fact that its annual appearance was coincident with the rising of the Nile, a phenomenon on which depends the prosperity of the whole country. According to our own observations, this species is now but rarely seen in Egypt, and was never met with by us below eighteen degrees north latitude; it, however, occurs regularly in South Nubia and the Soudan, where it arrives at the beginning of the rainy season, and after having reared its young, migrates, or wanders over the country to a considerable distance. In India it is not uncommon during the cold season. River-banks, marshes, tanks, and water-courses are the situations it usually frequents in search of aquatic insects, molluscs, and probably small reptiles, or it flies in small parties over the steppes in search of grasshoppers, beetles, and similar fare. This Ibis was formerly supposed to destroy and eat snakes, and the supposition appeared corroborated by the fact that[Pg 58] Cuvier actually discovered the remains of a snake within the body of a mummied Ibis; recent specimens, however, seldom contain anything but molluscs and insects. Some seem to feed entirely on fishes and aquatic insects, of which they destroy far more than they can possibly consume; and it is not uncommon for them, when tired of killing fish and fully satiated, to leave the rest to be devoured by birds of prey or some of the other frequenters of the water. When desirous of procuring food of this description, they walk with a slow firm step, and in large parties, through shallow muddy lakes, and when they have discovered a suitable and well-stored spot, they dance, as it were, all through it, stirring up the mud at the bottom with their feet. The victims as they rise to the surface are immediately struck with the long beak and deprived of life. In the course of a very short time hundreds of fishes, frogs, and reptiles cover the surface, and are greedily swallowed till the birds become perfectly gorged. We were fortunate enough to discover a breeding settlement on a small island in the White Nile, and found that the Ibises had built principally on the branches of a very thorny and thickly-foliaged species of mimosa, called by the natives "Harahri." The nests were flat, loosely constructed of thin twigs and grass, and placed close together on the densest branches. The three or four white coarse-shelled eggs were of about the size of those laid by the Domestic Hen.
The SPOONBILLS (Plataleæ) constitute a small group of very remarkable birds, possessing a powerful body, moderate-sized, strong neck, and small head; the long almost straight beak is flat and spoon-shaped towards its extremity, its interior is grooved, and the upper mandible hooked and nail-like at its tip. The strong, medium-sized foot has the three anterior toes much webbed, and furnished with small blunt claws. The wings are large and broad, and have the second quill longer than the rest; the tail is short, rounded, and composed of twelve feathers. The remarkably thick plumage does not vary either in the sexes or at different seasons, but changes its hue somewhat as the birds become older. The back of the head is adorned with a crest, and the upper throat is bare; in some instances a portion of the crown is also unfeathered. The members of this group occupy almost every portion of the globe, and resemble each other very closely in their mode of life and habits.
THE COMMON SPOONBILL.
The COMMON SPOONBILL (Platalea leucorodia) has a portion of the throat bare, and the head adorned with a flowing crest. The plumage of this bird is entirely pure white, except a yellowish stripe around the crop. The eye is carmine-red, the beak black tipped with yellow, the foot black, the eye-ring yellowish green, and the throat greenish yellow. The female is smaller than her mate; the young are without the yellow patch on the breast, and have no crest. This species is from thirty to thirty-one inches long, and fifty-two inches broad; the wing measures seventeen, and the tail five inches.