THE IBIS. (Ibis religiosa.)
The Ibis was regarded as a sacred bird by the ancient Egyptians, who used to have these birds walking about in their temples, and embalmed their bodies after death with as much care as those of their priests and kings. The cause of this veneration is not clearly ascertained, some authors supposing it to be due to the services rendered by the bird in destroying serpents and other noxious creatures; others to a fanciful resemblance between the bird and one of the moon’s phases; and others, again, to the arrival of the birds in Egypt at or about the period of the annual inundation of the Nile. The sacred Ibis has a long, stout, curved black bill; the head and neck are black and naked, and the plumage is white, with the tips of the wings black. Another species, the Glossy Ibis (Ibis falcinellus), shared the veneration of the Egyptians with the Sacred Ibis; it has a more slender bill than the Sacred Ibis, and its plumage, which is beautifully glossy, is dark green above and reddish-brown beneath. This bird is common in the south of Europe, and specimens have been shot in England. The Scarlet Ibis (Ibis rubra) is a beautiful species, which adorns the banks of the great rivers of South America, in company with the Roseate Spoonbill.