The family of the Ibises, of which Plegadis forms a somewhat
out-lying genus, has no real affinity to the Curlews,
with which, owing to a superficial resemblance in the shape
of the bill, it was formerly associated. On the contrary,
its relationship is with the Storks (Ciconiidce), and, more
closely, with the Spoonbills (Plataleidce). The egg of the
Sacred Ibis is similar to that of the Spoonbill (cf. Ibis, 1878,
p. 449), and so are, probably, the eggs of the other typical
species ; but the members of the small group of which the
Glossy Ibis forms part, differ from the typical Ibises in
laying bluish-green eggs.
As pointed out by Montagu, the Green, the Glossy, and
the Bay Ibis of authors, with the various systematic names
in use among ornithologists, refer only to various states of
the same bird, depending on age or season. The appearance
of the Glossy Ibis in this country, though not uncommon,
is still accidental; and there is no evidence to show that
it ever bred in our islands. Lubbock, writing in 1845,
remarked that fifty years back it was seen in Norfolk,
often enough to be known to gunners and fishermen as the
‘ Black Curlew ’; but it was rapidly becoming rare ; and
although Mr. Stevenson enumerates eleven instances of its
occurrence between 1818 and 1838, yet since the latter date
only three have been met with in that county. It has also
been obtained in the neighbouring county of Suffolk. Two
were killed at Skegness, in Lincolnshire, in the autumn of
1881 ; and two have been obtained in the south-east of
Yorkshire. Selby mentions a young bird in his own collection,
obtained on the Coquet near Botlibury, in the autumn
of 1820 ; and from this specimen the representation of the
Ibis published in some of the later editions of Bewick’s
British Birds was taken. In Scotland it becomes still rarer,
and only six occurrences are on record; the first being that
of an adult bird killed on the borders of the Loch of Kil-
conquhar, on the coast of Fife, in September 1842, by Mr.
Hepburn, who communicated the fact to the Author. About
the year 1844 one was shot near Banchory, in Kincardineshire,
and its wings given to Macgillivray, who also mentions
one obtained in Ayrshire. One was shot near Kirkwall, in
Orkney, in October 1857 ; and an immature bird at Unst, in
the Slietlands, in October 1862, after a south-westerly gale.
On the 4th October, 1880, a male in good condition was shot
on the mud-flats near the mouth of the Ythan, Aberdeenshire.
On the western side of England this species is decidedly
uncommon, but it has occurred several times in Lancashire,
and, according to Montagu, “ The Ibis is adopted as a part
of the arms of the town of Liverpool. This bird is termed
a Liver, from which that flourishing town derived its name,
and is now standing on the spot where the Pool was, on the
verge of which the Liver was killed.” The arms of the
town of Liverpool are, however, comparatively modern, and
seem to have no reference to the Ibis. The bird which was
adopted in the arms of the [extinct] Earls of Liverpool,
was described in a former edition of Burke’s Peerage as a
Cormorant holding in the beak a branch of sea-weed. In
the Plantagenet seal of Liverpool, which is believed to be of
the time of King John, the bird has the appearance of a Dove
bearing in its bill a sprig of olive, apparently intended to refer
to the advantages that commerce would derive from peace.
For a drawing of this ancient seal, with various other particulars,
and also for a notice of the occurrence of an Ibis
near the town of Fleetwood, on the river Wyre, the Author was
indebted to the kindness of Mr. John Skaife, of Blackburn.
The Rev. Hugh Davis, the friend of Pennant, has noticed
that a flock visited Anglesey, of which four or five were
shot; and a bird was obtained in Caermarthenshire in April
1858. Two were seen, and one shot, near Shrewsbury, on
the 3rd October, 1853. In Cornwall and the Scilly Islands
several occurrences have been recorded, at considerable intervals,
and always in the autumn. To Devonshire its visits
have been rather more frequent, although they have rarely
extended to Somersetshire ; and a good many birds have been
attracted by the congenial district near Poole Harbour in
Dorsetshire. Examples have occurred from time to time
on the coasts of Hampshire, Sussex, and Kent; and a few
VOL. iv. H H