CHAP. XIV. TUFTED BENNO. 2^5 



frequently represented felling them with the throw- 

 stick* in the thickets of the marshes, t 



Several occur in the hieroglyphics, and in the 

 paintings ; among which we may distinguish the 

 Ardea cinerea or heron t, the Platalea or spoonbill, 

 the stork, charadrius, and others, § 



That which held the next rank to the Ibis was 

 the tufted BennoH, one of the emblems of Osiris, 

 who was sometimes figured with the head of this 

 bird. It was distinguished by a tuft of two long 

 feathers falling from the back of its head; and this 

 peculiarity seems to point out the small white 

 aboogerda7iy which I have often seen with two 

 similar plumes. Its pure white ^T colour, its custom 

 of following the plough, and living in the cul- 

 tivated fields, from which the French have given 

 it the name of gardeboeiif^ as well as its utility in 

 eating the worms and insects in newly tilled lands, 

 argue in favour of this conjecture, and suggest it to 

 be an appropriate emblem of the beneficent Osiris. 

 It is the Ardea bubulcus of Savigny. 



More than one charadrius was a native of Egypt. 

 The Charadrius oedicnemus, the modern Karawan, 

 the Cristatus or crested plover, and the Armatus 

 or spur-winged plover, were very common. But 



* This calls to mind the boumarang of New Holland ; but the pecu- 

 liarity of this last, of coming back to the thrower, did not belong to the 

 Eg3'ptian throwstick, which was also more straight. 



f Woodcut, No. .336. 



i Vide Yo\.l\. Woodcut, No. 340. fig. 13. 



$ Vide Vol. III. p. 51., and Woodcuts, Nos. 339, 3-10. Vide n\so 

 Plate 75. i 



II Vide infra. Woodcut, No. 465. 



1[ I believe, however, that the Benno is represented of a bluish grey, 

 or slate colour. 



VOL. II. — Second Series. Q, 



