( 299 ) 



APPENDIX. 



On the birds to which the name of Ibis was given by the 

 ancient Egyptians. 



Every body has heard of the Ibis, a bird to 

 which the ancient Egyptians rendered a religious 

 homage ; which they reared within the precincts 

 of their temples ; allowed to wander unmolested 

 through their towns ; whose murderer, even al- 

 though he had involuntarily become so, was punish- 

 ed with death * ; which they embalmed with as 

 much care as their parents ; a bird to which they 

 attributed a virgin purity ; an inviolable attach- 

 ment to their country, of which it was the em- 

 blem, an attachment so great that it suffered it- 

 self to die of hunger when it was transported else- 



* Herodotus, i. 2. 



