John James Audubon (1785-1851) 
Plate CCCLXXXVII Glossy Ibis
from Birds of America 
Engraved by Robert Havell (1793-1878) 
Published: London, 1827-1838 
Aquatint engraving with original hand coloring 
Paper size: 25 5/8 x 37 7/8 in. 
Frame size: 37 1/2 x 49 1/2 in. 

“The Glossy Ibis is of exceedingly rare occurrence in the United States, where it appears only at long and irregular intervals, like a wanderer who has lost his way. It exists in Mexico, however, in vast numbers. In the spring of 1837, I saw flocks of it in Texas; but even there it is merely a summer resident, associating with the White Ibis, along the grassy margins of the rivers and bayous, and apparently going to and returning from its roosting places in the interior of the country. Its flight resembles that of its companion, the White Ibis, and it is probable that it feeds on the same kinds of crustaceous animals, and breeds on low bushes in the same great associations as that species, but we unfortunately had no opportunity of verifying this conjecture . . I have given the figure of a male bird in superb plumage, procured in Florida, near a wood-cutter’s cabin, a view of which is also given. “ (Audubon’s Ornithological Biography, 1831).