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Show 486 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE IBIDINSE. [Julie 5, Threskiornis strictipennis, Gould, B. Austr. vol. vi. pl. 46 ; id. Haud-b. B. Austr. (1865) vol. ii. p. 284. Threskiornis cethiopicus, Gray, App. List Gen. Birds fl842) p. 13; Gurney, Ibis (I860) p. 219, (1865) p. 275. Geronticus strictipennis, Gray, Gen. B. (1849) vol. iii. p. 567- sp. 7; id. Hand-1. B. (1871) pt. iii. p. 40. Geronticus cethiopicus, Gray, Gen. B. (1849) vol. iii. p. 5fi6. sp. 5; Layard, B. S. Afr. (1867) p. 320. sp. 604 ; Gray, Handl. B. (1871) pt, iii. p. 4 0; Bartlett, Ibis (1876) p. 211. Ibis cethiopica, von Heugl. Syst. Ueber. Vog. Nordost.-Afr. (1855) p. 213. sp. 633; Gurney, Ibis (1868) p. 259 ; Finsch & Hartl. Vog. Ost.-Afr. (1870) p. 783; Gurney, Anderss. B. Damaral. (1872) p. 297; Shelley, B. Egypt (1872) p. 261 ; Heugl. Ornith. Nordost.-Afr. (1873) Band ii. Abth. 1, p. 1135; Ayres, Ibis (1874) p. 105. Thresciornis religiosa, Hartl. Syst. Orn. W . Afr. (1857) p. 232. sp. 658; Gurney, Ibis (1859) p. 153. sp. 9, (1865) p. 275. Hab. Africa, Senegambia (Hartl.); Casamanze (Verri) ; Mos-sambique (Peters) ; Cameroons (Crossley) ; Transvaal (Ayres); St. George, Elmina, Gold-Coast (Pel) ; Australia, Ceram (Schlegel); Salawatty (Rosenberg). The Sacred Ibis is no longer met with upon the Nile south of Kartoutn ; and I do not know of any authentic account of its having been seen in Egypt in modern times. In ancient days it must have been very numerous, as great quantities of mummies of these birds are found in the tombs and pits throughout Egypt. Strabo states that every street in Alexandria was full of them in his time, and they were useful in picking up all kinds of offal thrown out of the butchers' shops. He also says they were troublesome because they devoured every thing, were dirty, and were prevented with difficulty from polluting what was clean and not given to them. Hermopolis was the patron city of this bird; and it appears to have been worshipped throughout the land. It was the emblem of Thoth, the scribe of Osiris, who wrote down the deeds of the deceased ; and its portrait is seen upon many of the monuments that remain. Vier-thaler says that on the White and Blue Nile it builds in trees, nesting in great companies during the months of August, September, and October. This species is the type of Savigny's genus Ibis; and I have consequently retained this term for it and its congeneric relatives. Mr. Gould has separated, in his ' Birds of Australia,' the Black-necked Ibis of that country from I. cethiopica, on account of the lengthened feathers on the lower part of the throat, and has called it I. strictipennis; and the species has generally been accepted by ornithologists as valid. Another less conspicuous character is the extent of the dark-green colour on the ends of the primaries. Inasmuch as the lengthened neck-feathers of I. melanocephala are present in some specimens and not in others (being assumed in the breeding-season), and are therefore of no value as a specific character, it does not seem at all natural that the same character among speci- |