Though apparently a clumsy bird, it moves with wonderful speed, running not only swiftly but gracefully, its large feet being no hindrance to the rapidity of its movements. It is mostly found in shallow marshes, where the construction of its feet enables it to traverse both the soft muddy ground and the patches of firm earth with equal ease. Its wings, however, are by no means equal to its legs either in power or activity; and, like most of the rail tribe, it never takes to the air unless absolutely obliged to do so.
The nest of the Hyacinthine Gallinule is made on the sedge-patches which dot the marshes, much like that of the coot. The nest, too, resembles that of the coot, being composed of reeds, sedges, and other aquatic plants. The eggs are three or four in number, white in colour, and nearly spherical in form.
The ancients were well acquainted with the Hyacinthine Gallinule, and were in the habit of keeping it tamed in their houses, in which case it was prized by the men and hated by the women. There was a popular idea about the bird that it always detected any infidelity on the part of the female sex, and that when the master of the house came home the bird acquainted him with the crime by making gestures as if it wished to strangle itself.
There are several species of Gallinule, but that which has just been described is the most conspicuous, and therefore, if either of the Gallinules be the Tinshemeth of the Jewish lawgiver, we may safely conclude that the Hyacinthine Gallinule is the species.
As, however, the Ibis has an equal claim to the title of Tinshemeth, we will devote a few lines to a description of the bird. The particular species which would be signified by the word tinshemeth would undoubtedly be the White or Sacred Ibis (Ibis religiosa), a bird which derives its name of Sacred from the reverence with which it was held by the ancient Egyptians, and the frequency with which its figure occurs in the monumental sculptures. It was also thought worthy of being embalmed, and many mummies of the Ibis have been found in the old Egyptian burial-places, having been preserved for some three thousand years.
In his account of the various animals which were accounted sacred by the Egyptians, Herodotus mentions the Ibis, mixing up a considerable amount of truth with a few errors, and a good deal of superstition. Having heard of the relics of some winged serpents near the city of Buto, he went to see them. "When I arrived there I saw bones and spines of serpents, in such quantities as it would be impossible to describe: there were heaps of these spinal bones, some large, some smaller, and some still less, and there were great numbers of them.
"The place in which these spinal bones lie scattered is of the following description:—It is a narrow pass between two mountains into a spacious plain; this plain is contiguous to the plain of Egypt. It is reported that, at the beginning of spring, winged serpents fly from Arabia towards Egypt; but that the ibises, a sort of bird, meet them at the pass, and do not allow the serpents to go by, but kill them. For this service the Arabians say that the ibis is highly reverenced by the Egyptians, and the Egyptians acknowledge that they reverence these birds for this reason.
"The ibis is of the following description. It is all over a deep black, it has the legs of a crane, its beak is much curved, and it is about the size of a crex. Such is the form of the black ones that fight with the serpents. But those that are commonly conversant among men (for there are two species) are bare on the head and the whole neck; have white plumage, except on the head, the throat, and the tips of the wings and extremity of the tail. In all these parts that I have mentioned they are of a deep black; in their legs and back they are like the other kind." (Herod. "Euterpe," 75, 76, Cary's translation.)
Putting aside the mention of the winged serpents, of which he only learned by hearsay, we find that Herodotus has given a very fair account of two species of Ibis,—namely, the Glossy or Green Ibis (Ibis falcinellus), and the White or Sacred Ibis, whose scientific names have already been given.