Parts.Skeleton of
an Ibis
from Thebes.		Skeleton of
the Curlew.		Saccara Ibises.
Larger.Smaller.
Head and beak together,0.2100.215......
Head alone,0.0470.040......
The 14 vertebræ of the neck together,0.1920.150......
Back,0.0800.056......
Sacrum,0.0870.070......
Coccyx,0.0370.035......
Femur,0.0780.060......
Tibia,0.1500.112...0.095
Tarsus,0.1020.090......
Middle-toe,0.0970.070......
Sternum,0.0920.099......
Clavicle,0.0550.041...0.04
Humerus,0.1330.1060.124...
Fore-arm,0.1530.1170.1440.114
Hand,0.1250.103......

It appears by this table, that the animal of Thebes was larger than our curlew; that one of the Saccara ibises was intermediate in size between that of Thebes and our common curlew, and that the other was smaller than this latter bird. It is also seen that the different parts of the body of the ibis do not observe the same proportions between each other, as those of the curlew. The beak of the former, for example, is in particular shorter, although all the other parts are longer, &c.

However, these differences of proportions do not exceed what might be expected in species of the same genus: the forms and characters which may be considered as generic, are absolutely the same.

We must therefore search for the true ibis, not among those tantaluses of large size and sharp beak, but among the curlews; and, let it be observed, that, by the name curlew, we intend to signify, not the artificial genus formed by Latham and Gmelin, of all the wading birds which have the beak curved downwards, but a natural genus, to which we shall give the name of Numenius, and which will comprehend all the waders with beaks curved downwards, soft and rounded, whether their head be bare or clothed with feathers. It is the genus courlis, such as Buffon imagined it[352].

A glance over the collection of birds belonging to the royal cabinet, has enabled us to distinguish a species, which is neither named nor described in the works of systematic writers, excepting perhaps by Dr Latham; and which, when carefully examined, will be found to correspond with all that the ancients, the monuments and mummies, indicate as characteristic of the ibis.

We here present a figure of it, [Plate V.] It is a bird somewhat larger than the curlew; its beak is arcuate like that of the curlew, but a little shorter, and sensibly thicker in proportion, somewhat compressed at its base, and marked on each side with a groove, which, proceeding from the nostril, is continued to the extremity; while, in the curlew, there is a similar groove, which disappears before arriving at the middle of the beak; the colour of the beak is more or less black; the head, and the two upper thirds of the neck, are entirely destitute of feathers, and the skin of these parts is black. The plumage of the body, wings, and tail, is white, with the exception of the ends of the large quills of the wing, which are black; the four last secondary quills have the barbs singularly long, attenuated, and hanging down over the ends of the wings, when the latter are folded; their colour is a beautiful black, with violet reflections. The feet are black, the legs are thicker, and the toes much longer in proportion than those of the curlew; the membranes between the bases of the toes are also more extended; the leg is entirely covered with small polygonal, or what is called reticulated scales, and the base of the toes itself has only similar scales; while, in the curlew, two-thirds of the leg, and the whole length of the toes, are scutulate, that is to say, furnished with transverse scales. There is a reddish tint under the wing, toward the top of the thigh, and on the anterior large wing coverts; but this tint appears to be an individual character, or the result of an accident, for it does not occur in other individuals that are in other respects entirely similar.

This first individual came from the collection of the Stadtholder, and its native country was unknown. The late M. Desmoulins, assistant naturalist to the Museum, who had seen two others, asserted that they came from Senegal; one of them must even have been brought by M. Geoffroy de Villeneuve: but we shall see, as we proceed, that Bruce[353] found this species in Abyssinia, where it was named Abou-Hannes (Father John); and that M. Savigny saw it in abundance in Lower Egypt, where it was called Abou-Mengel (Father of the Sickle). It is probable that the moderns will give no credit to the assertion of the ancients, that the ibis never left Egypt without perishing[354]. This assertion would, besides, be as contrary to the Tantalus Ibis as to our common Curlew; for the individuals which we have in Europe came from Senegal. It was from thence that M. Geoffroy de Villeneuve had brought the individual in the Museum of Natural History. It is even much rarer in Egypt than our curlew; for, since Perrault, nobody mentions having seen it there, or having received it from that country. An individual without the reddish tint, but in other respects perfectly similar to the first, was brought home by M. de Labillardiere, in his voyage to Australasia made along with M. d’Entrecasteux.

We afterwards learned, that, when young, these birds have the head and neck furnished with feathers in the part which, as they advance in age, is to become bare; and that the scapulars are less elongated, and of a paler and duller black. It is in this state that one was brought to us from Australasia by the late Peron, which, in other respects, differs from ours, and from that of M. Labillardiere, only in having some black markings on the alula and first large coverts, and in which the head and upper part of the neck are covered with blackish feathers. It was also a youngish individual which M. Savigny brought from Egypt, and which is figured in his memoir upon the Ibis, Plate I.; and in the great work on Egypt, under the head Birds, Pl. VII. The feathers of the head and back part of the neck are rather grey than black; those of the fore part of the neck are white. Lastly, Bruce’s figure (Atlas, Plate XXXV.) is also taken from a young individual observed in Abyssinia, and almost similar to that of M. Savigny.

We have received from Pondicherry, by M. Leschenault, an individual similar to that of Peron, but in which, the head only, and a small part of the back of the neck, are furnished with blackish feathers; all the rest is covered with white feathers. But it is not the less certain, that all these birds have the head and the neck bare when they are full grown.