Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-06-08
Egyptian Birds and Animals.
1t is worthy of notice that amonp

1t is worthy Of notice that among the
feathered and four-legged animals do
INVESTIGATED by the ancient Egyptians.
ducks are not represented; moreover, it
may be observed that there are no data TO
show that the domestic fowl was known
to the ancient Egyptians. The object so
called on the cartouche of the builder of
the Great Pyramid resembles chick.
both in appearance and figure, but it
might be the young of the quail, which
is still plentiful throughout the cultivated
districts. There is a picture on one of the
UNI, where geese, quail, and evidently
ducks are being sailed and preserved for
future use. Pigeons, both wild and do
mesticated, have been plentiful in Egypt
from very early times. The common
rock pigeon &C. ltv5a) is generally disuib-
uted, and its compeer of the dovecot often
returns to the rocky wilds. Every town
OF any pretensions has a public pigeon
house, more on account of the economic
value of the manure than for the birds.
At Sioot it is a lively scene to sit in your
boat and watch them swarming about
the houses and settling on the tops of
palm trees, or, like sea-gulls, lowering
over the river for the purpose Of picking
up refuse thrown overheard. The traveller
lnqulsltlve on points connected with
natural history will do we'll to examine
the walls Of the Theban temples. On that
Of Medinet Haboo, there is observed a
very vivid representation of the corona
ton of the warrior monarch, Rameses
Iii. (B. c. 1900. Here, among all the
state display of the times, are shown
priests in their robes letting off carrier
pigeons, which seem to be conveying It'd
ings of the event to distant points-in-
deed, Psychologists assert that there are
notices in ancient papyrus manuscripts
Of tanned pigeons having been used in
Egypt as articles of food no less than 900
years, and upwards, before the birth of
Christ, thus testitying to the long domesti-
cation Of the pigeon. The turtle-dove
Ct. 8enegalenis) is universally distributed
over the habitable parts of Egypt
and Nubia, and breeds in the
middle of the large towns When the
ancients wished to represent ovid
ow woman" they drew black dove;
neither the above nor the pigeon have
been found embalmed. The monkeys
were sacred to the god Thoth, Secretary
to Osiris, the Jupiter of the old Egyptians.
One species is evidently the dog-faced ape
(SanaGG hamadryGs) a native of Ethiopia,
from whence it was probably obtained; it
appears constantly in the hieroglyphic
writings, as we'll as in the pictures and
statues, the visage in the latter being often
nalf-dog, half-monkey. The other is the
little green monkey of Ethiopia; both are
common in museums. The presence of
the camel in Egypt during the sojourn of
Abraham is matter of history, and yet,
strange to say, it has never been met with
in the paintings or hieroglyphics. The
feathers of the ostrich are seen on the
heads Of the gods, and were, no doubt,
brought from the South by the tribes as
tribute, or obtained during conquests.
The elephant also appears in pictures;
but none of these seem to have been either
sacred or emblematic of a deity.-Col-
burns Neao M0ntbEg.