tÀ d i* 'M&eTiog t@;them^ awl the joints separate at the lèast:
•touch. Most of these --.mummies* it must > be admitted, are not
ôf the species of which we are writing,- (ù®d which, also is but
sddetm- represented hiereglyphicaffy,)"but; of the white kind,
which was more'veperàted* the Ibis religiosao fCinviër ; and some
authors even deny that a well authenticated Black Ibis has ever
been unwrapped. Complete birds even of the white species are
extremely rare. Cuvier obtained the entire skeleton from an
embalmed . subject, • and Dr. Pearson was so fortunate- as to
discover, the perfect bird in two brought among other mummies
from Thebes; They have..been aceuFatelff d e se rfb e® ^ flw r
Scientific journals of England under the name of true Egyptian
pr Theban Ibis. The Egyptian Ibis of Latham is however;
nothing but the Tantalus Ibis..
Buffon by m elis erf his mummie^ was enabled to verify the
real size of the Ibis* .and^s|%s found two bills entire among
thosd he examined, he settled fthe,genus td which the sacred birfl^
belonged,/and -stated v e^ ^orrectly that .its place; was; between
thé "Stork and the Curlew, where later naturalists have arranged
it.-. But it is to be regretted that a preconceived Opinion should
have so blinded him that he could not see the furrows of the upper
mandible,* which dd .exist in a very eminent degree, as I have
pei’sdnally ascertained, notwithstanding, his statements to - the
contrary, in making, whielpHe must have had before him the bill
of- the Tantalus, which he mistook for the Ibis. The^e furrows
it iwM ’ &e Jtndre consequence to. note, inasmuch as they form the
principal discrimination between the. genera Tantalus and Ibii,
and serve tor put an end to a controversy to which the. sacred Ibis
has given rise. * .
^Although every traveller" ip Egypt has used his- exertions to
e@lle«â*a:li'vthé:factS'Eelative to a -bird'whiçh plays such a part in
the sacred legends of that country, a bird associated with so many
of the wonders? of antiquity, yeyit .was for a long period, a question
among naturalists and- scholars* to whaU species the name of- Ibis
was propellyct© be applied^* .Ass, however, feontrary to'the general
practice of the ancients* the description‘of the bird didi-esisitj, and,
even a- -representation, tolerably g®od, among their - sculptured
hieroglyphics-, LListeuld only bee h®e®usfe" ifo w&s opposed that
divine honours must have-been the rewards of Signal ser“ es that
i«y:-#spW@i«0rt^ . -i4: bard must
of course;)'®«; was* cenetaded^feo a great* destroyer ®f, venomo®^
animals, whieh the timid IMs is not; hence the misapplication d i
the name".. T o sucha an extentdidthis/ide®^ predominate
over alltothers, that Buffon, '<r
for the idle tales related of the Ibis, s^fovolved their true« history
asi’ito? attribute to them the most .violent antipathy t® serpents, on
which he» supposed they fed,, and destroyed; them by all possible
means, arid-assigns to theSJ|; the habits of a species of Vulture.
0%he»s maintalhidy ®otwithstaridinm;sffi)ng and fafeate bill, that
it was in fact a Vulture, which m's~|fiideed. the^ppost natural
conclusion after they had begun by gj|nng it such habits'. G Wvier
himself, who dfeared up and rectified every thing else in relation
to the Ibis, heeausebefeund in a mummy somebskig,s and.scales
tef serpents, most probably emhalmed us.feompani®ns, whfchfWas
ffrequently/floae with different kinds of animals, declared it a trufe
- snake*eaSer.s |
Two different kinds of Ibis-were know® to;*t3pra®oieMs, and
looked upon by the Egyptians as/ saerpd ; th© White.,j.eommon
throughout Egypt; und the Black, which w%s said to be found
onlyr-in a. peculiar distrieh». It is the latter of which we' are now
to treat, a bird long known to, bu t not recognized by*naturalists;
■whilst the white was only uediseovered, in later-times, by the
courageous V«f?ssmia®, tr^yelter Bruce, who fest/shmongj the
moderns obtained corrects- notions respecting; i t.. Bruee s Ibis