324 * REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



writer, the Ibis inspired the serpents with so much dread, that the 

 very sight of its plumage was sufficient to drive them away. 



In the narrative of Herodotus, as we have seen, the expression 

 "winged serpents" is probably used for venomous ones. The trans- 

 lation is rather a free one. Moreover, it is the opinion of M. Bourlet, 

 who has written a memoir on the subject, that by the term "winged 

 serpents," Herodotus intended to describe locusts, innumerable 

 swarms of which were wont to traverse Egypt and the adjacent 

 countries, destroying everything as they passed. This explanation 

 appears to us better than the former, for it is a fact that the Ibis 

 cannot attack serpents, its bill being too weak for such a purpose. 



Having quoted M. Bourlet's. opinion, we may as well give that 

 of Savigny the naturalist, whose studies on the subject have been 

 published in the " Histoire Mythologique de lTbis." 



" Between aridity and contagion, the two scourges which in all 

 ages have been so dreaded by the Egyptians," says the author, " it 

 was soon perceived that when a district was rendered fertile and 

 healthy by pure and fresh water, it was immediately frequented by the 

 Ibis, so that the presence of the one always indicated that of the 

 other, just as if the two were inseparable ; they therefore believed 

 that the two had a simultaneous existence, and fancied some super- 

 natural and secret relations existed between them. This idea, being 

 so intimately connected with the phenomena on which their 

 existence depended — I mean the periodical overflowing of their 

 river — was the first motive for their veneration of the ibis, and 

 became the basis of the homage which ultimately developed into the 

 worship of the bird." 



Thus, according to Savigny, the Ibis was venerated by the 

 Egyptians only because it announced to them the annual over- 

 flowing of the Nile. This explanation is now generally accepted. 



This Bird, the attachment of which to Egypt was formerly so 

 great that, according to JSlian, it died when taken from that country, 

 strange to say, now is scarcely ever seen there. The cause of this 

 probably is, that the modern Egyptians, treading under foot the 

 ancient faith of their fathers, kill and eat the Ibis as they would any 

 other fowl, without remembering its former rank of divinity. So, 

 being deprived of the ancient protection which rendered Egypt so 

 dear to it, the Ibis has almost deserted the ungrateful land of the 

 Pharaohs. Still it occasionally pays brief visits to the Delta at the 

 time of the rise of the Nile ; but it soon takes flight into the wilds of 

 Abyssinia, forgotten and unregretted. It is also found in Senegal 

 and at the Cape of Good Hope. 



