390 The Wilson Bulletin— No. 92 



carrier pigeons, bidding them carry the tiding to the north, 

 south, east and west of his majesty's dominion. And they 

 let this point out for us the antiquity of the service of the 

 carrier pigeon. 



,We saw other pictures in which birds have a prominent 

 place. This is true of the hunting scene depicted on an outer 

 wall of the temple at Kom Ombos. It delineates a Nile boat 

 covered with reeds that have been sprayed with bird-lime or 

 a similar sticky substance used for catching birds. In this 

 picture about a dozen species of birds could be recognized, 

 their modeling being very good ; the same could be said of 

 the cat, which was climbing the stalks to get the birds, 

 though the cat was smaller than the birds. The motive of 

 such pictures can be recognized, but there are many others 

 in which the part played by the birds is symbolic with hid- 

 den significance. Seven charming little birds, colored blue, 

 are carved on the prow of the boat in the Judgment Hall of 

 Osiris at Karnak, but in the " holy of holies " at Abydos 

 there are six blue-colored birds and a fish for adornment of 

 the prow, their purport no one seems to know. But the sym- 

 bolism of the hawk and the vulture, appearing in countless 

 numbers of decorations, is understood to some extent. In 

 the wall pictures a small bird, supposed to typify the depart- 

 ing spirit, hovers over the body of the dead. This the dra- 

 gomans will always identify for you as a sparrow. Had these 

 fellows ever lived in America and fought Passer doaiesticits 

 they might have very good reasons for selecting it as the em- 

 blem of eternal life. 



The island of Philfc, for centuries esteemed the gem of the 

 Nile, once the theme for universal praise, endeared to all who 

 saw it, now sits submerged beneath the desolating waters of 

 modern commercialism, a place to close one's eyes whilst 

 passing, a subject to be shunned. Few are so pious at this 

 point as to be unwilling to insert another dam when viewing 

 the damage done by the waters above PhiL-e. So recent are 

 the changes wrought in Nubia by the Aswan dam that some 

 account of them mav not lack interest. Such effects may be 



