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452 BIRD-LIFE. 
In former days it may possibly have been thus in all 
countries ; hence the legend before alluded to. In those 
days all birds were loved and cherished by man, some 
being, indeed, regarded by him as sacred. He saw con¬ 
nected with their appearance and departure those various 
phenomena of nature which took place the year round, 
and whose changes, &c., they did not then understand; 
he regarded the arrival of the migratory visitors with holy 
awe, as though the Deity himself had appeared. 
In this manner the Egyptians held the Ibis to be 
sacred. When the Nile, after being at its lowest ebb rose 
again, and the water assumed a red tinge, then the Ibis 
appeared in the land of the Pharaohs, a sure guarantee 
that the stream—the Giver and Preserver of Life, which 
the people in their profound reverence raised to the rank 
of a god—would once again empty the well-spring of 
plenty over the thirsty land. The servant and messenger 
of this All-bounteous Deity commanded of necessity a 
reverence of a poetic and distinguished character, by 
reason of its importance: he, too, must also be a god! 
How beautiful, intelligent, and simple, was this messenger! 
The Ibis is one of the most amiable and winning birds I 
have ever met with; it associates of its own accord so 
much with man, that the trouble of taming the bird is 
but slight, and takes place almost without any advances 
on the part of the former. This the ancient Egyptians 
were fully aware of; for we find that they read the great 
book of Nature with intelligence and care: and it is 
owing to this that they deified the bird. On this account 
the bird’s remains were preserved by their priests from 
decay, and kept for thousands of years, until the spirit, 
suffered by permission of an All-wise God to wander in 
space, should return to its earthly tenement. Like the 
