II.‐ The Lore of the Hoopoe (Upupa epops L.)
1925; Wiley; Volume: 67; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/j.1474-919x.1925.tb02907.x
ISSN1474-919X
Autores Tópico(s)Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies
ResumoT he earliest appearance of the Hoopoe in history is a painting of the bird perching with other species on the št ‐bush ( Acacia nilotica Del.). This painting is on the walls of the tomb of Knumhotpe at Beni Hasan, Egypt, and dates from the XIIth Dynasty ( circa 1900 B.C.). A fine coloured drawing of this bird by Howard Carter has been published by the Egypt Exploration Society 1 . The Egyptian artist has rendered his subject well: it is fairly true to nature except that the tail is represented as forking. I have searched in vain for further pictures of this striking bird in other Egyptian paintings, and the supposed mention of it in a papyrus of the reign of Sety II ( c. 1205 B.C.) cannot be maintained. In this document the writer complains that his dates will not ripen, for they are attacked by three species of birds, in the morning, at noon and at eventide respectively. The late Sir Gaston Maspero identified the first of these birds with the Hoopoe, but as the bird is not frugivorous his identification cannot stand 1 .
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