Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-04-08
Sacred Birds.

Extraordinary honors were paid to
| the.gOose in ancient times; and it is still
held in great veneration by some of the
eastern nations. The figure that occurs
so frequently on Buddhist monuments is
the Brahmanese goose. The ancient
Britons, according to Caesar, held it
impiOus to eat the flesh of geese. The
ibis was another bird held in the highest
sanctity by the old Egyptians There
are still numerous pits containing ibis
mummies in that country. The largest
of them, little to the westward of the
pyramid of Aboutir, is about twenty feet
deep. The floor of this pit, for probably
depth of many feet, is covered with
heaps on heaps, and layers on layers, of
coarse earthen jars, the lids cemented
down, containing each the body of an
ibis, preserved with bitumen and en-
closed in numerous folds of narrow cloth
bandages. Some Of the mUmmies are
found in a state Of great preservation
black and charred, and incapable of be-
ing taken whole out of the bandages,
but all the bones, the heads, and all the
feathers entire. Whether these animals
were thus embalmed and brought to this
place of burial whenever found dead, or
whether collected here only as objects of
worship, is a question of which no an
cient authority assists in the solution.
The Mahometans have great Venera-
ton and esteem for the stork. 1t is al
most as sacred with them as the ibis was
with the Egyptians; and they would look
upon person as profane who should kill,
OF even harm one. So precious were
these birds held in Thessaly, which coun-
try they are said to have cleared Of ser
pents, that the slayer Of stork was pun
ished with death They were thought
much of at Rome; for when person,
from freak of luxury, ordered one to
be placed on his dinner table he drew
upon himself the direful obloquy Of the
whole city.
The robin is considered in several
countries a sacred bird; to kill one is lit
tie less than sacrilege, and its eggs are
free from the hand of the birdnester. It'll
is asserted that the respect shown to Thy
man is Joined in by the animals of the
wood. The weasel and wild cat, it is
said, will never molest it when killed |
One cause for the v6neration in which it
is held may be the superstition which |
represents it as the medium through
which mankind are warned of approach |
inc death. Before the decease OF per-
son, robin is believed, in many in
stances, to tap thrice at the window Of
the room in which the sick person is ly-
ING. Grimm says that the peculiar ven
Grafton with which this bird is treated |
has been shown by the whole German
race from remote times; and he refers to
the birds color and its name as evidences
that it was sacred to Thor, the god of
lightning.
The swallow, too, in Germany every
where deemed sacred bird. Like the !
stork, it preserves the house on which it |
builds its nest from fire and lightning.
The Spanish peasants have tradition |
that it was a swallow that tried to pluck
the thorns out of the crown of Christ as
he hung upon the cross; hence they have
a great reverence for this bird, and will |
never destroy it,
In parts Of France the wren is a sa-
cred bird. To kill it, OF rob its nest, is
deemed an atrocity which will bring
down the lightning on the culprit's dwell
inc. Such an act was also regarded with |
horror in Scotland The following is a
popular malediction upon those who rob |
the nest of the wren:
Malisons, malisons, mair than ten,
That harry the lodge Of Heavens hen!
The whydah bird and the water-wag-
tail are held sacred by the natives of sew
eral parts of Africa. Among the Mendan
Indians the dove is held so sacred that
neither man, woman nor child will in
lure it; indeed, the Mandan Indians de-
clare that even their dogs, ferocious as
they are, instinctiyely respect that bird. |
CELERY SAUCE. Chop fine two heads |
of celery, and boil one hour At the end |
of that time have about pint and half |
of water with it, and stir in two table !
spoonfuls of flour wet with cold water.
Boil this ten minutes and then stir in two
Al