BIRDS. 
*95 
jjady for prey, and the whole body polluted with 
i th : thefe are qualities enough to make the be- 
«oider Ihudder With horror. Notwithstanding this 
r , ^habitants of Egypt cannot be enough thank- 
111 to Providence for this bird. All the places 
°und Cairo are filled with the dead bodies of affes 
ana j amc * s ’ and thou finds of thefe birds fly about, 
t] aa devour the carcafcs, before they putrify and fill 
0 p C r a ’ r w 'th noxious exhalations. The inhabitants 
**gypt, and after them Maillet, in his Defcrip- 
*° n of E gyph that they yearly follow the ca- 
3van to Mecca, and devour the filth of the 
and ^ 1C carcafes of the camels, 
iichdm on the journey; but I have not been an 
tw T e 5 °r t 11S - They don,t % hi s h - nor are 
f u y afraid of “en. If one is killed, all the reft 
ti'onnd him, in the fame manner as do the Roy- 
q ° n Crows i they do not quit the places they fre- 
though frightened by the explofion of a gun, 
n immediately return thither. I am not of opi- 
f ° n t , hat th,s blrd eats infers or worms, as it is 
‘‘fcely ever feen in the fields and lakes ; nor do the 
j Oer fineries nf rhi« owmo j- . *,r 
CTPf 5 ! h ‘ S bird co be the Ibis of the ancients; 
«* ’ 1 think, his opinion has not the leaft appearance 
of 
th 
truth. 
a , r ™ e . can fcarcely be induced to imagine, 
iin c ] w i' e nation should pay fuch honours to an 
Pe r u 4n ’ impure, and rapacious bird, which was not 
Wer fo , common > before the Egyptians filled the 
itUifi S " u 1 carcafes. It the Ibis is to be found, it 
°f /• Certa,n b r be looked for in the Ordo of Grallte 
r 0 n and 1 imagine it to be the White He- 
**\\ i!,>' C ! ,s fo c °mmon in Egypt. The Arabians 
it t j ••ocliteme; the trench, living in Egypt give 
H. n S I of Chapon dc Pharaon, or de JVlfho- 
’ M ‘ lihec it is fo called, becaufe it re- 
^ 3 fembles 
