214 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



hieroglyphic legends as the type of an impure or 

 wicked person. I believe it to be the wagtail, or 

 motacilla ; and it is worthy of remark that this 

 bird is still called in Egypt " aboo fussad," "the 

 father o^ corruption ^^^ as if in memorial of the hiero- 

 glyphical character assigned to it by the ancient 

 Egyptians. 



It does not appear that the iipiipa was sacred, 

 and indeed the honour once accorded to it, of giving 

 its head to the sceptres of the Gods, is now taken 

 from it. * ^han t states, that the Egyptians re- 

 spected this bird and the Vulpanser goose for their 

 love of their young, and the stork for its tender- 

 ness to its parents, but there is no reason to believe 

 that any one of these was sacred. 



Fowls, Pigeons, Doves, Quails, Ostriches. 



It is a remarkable fact that though fowls abounded 

 in Egypt, they are never represented in the sculp- 

 tures. Plutarch t tells us they sacrificed white 

 and saffron-coloured cocks to Anubis, but without 

 saying that they were the emblems of any God. 

 Indeed the universal use of fowls as an article of 

 food argues against the probability of their having 

 been sacred ; nor are they found embahiied in the 

 tombs. It is not, however, impossible on this ac- 

 count that they might have been emblems, as 

 the goose, though so universally adopted as an 

 article of food, was the symbol of the God Seb ; 



* Vide supra, p. 47. f iEIian, Nat, An. x. 16. 



t Plut.de Is. s. 61. 



