taucasiau Ibex.
IBHAR
455
IBX-AKNIN
that of venison. The Bedouins make water-bottles of their skins, as of those of the domestic goats, and rings of their horns, which they wear on their thumbs. Dogs easily catch them when surprised in the plains, but in the abrupt precipices and chasms of the rocks the ibex is said to elude pursuit by tlie tremendous leaps which it makes. It is likely that this species is identical with that which bears the name oi' jiogeiir/ {Caprus fpr/a- grus), and whicli inhabits all the loftier ranges that traverse Asia, from the Taurus and Caucasus to China. It is very robust, and much larger than any domestic goat ; its general color iron-gray, shaded with brown, with a black line doAvn the back and across the with- ers, and a white patcli on the crupper. The horns of the male are very large, compressed, and slightly di- verging as they arch over the back; their front side makes an obtuse edge, and is marked by a series of knobs, with deep hollows between. — Fairbairn. See Wild Goat ; Hind, etc.
Ib'har (Heb. Yihchur', ^J13'', chosen; Sept. 'I/Se- d^, 'Ujiadp [cod. Vat. 'Ejitdo, 'E/3aap] ; Josephus 'It- jid(), A lit. vii, 3, 3), one of the sons of David (by a sec- ondary wife, 1 Chron. iii, 9) born to him in Jerusalem, mentioned next after Solomon and before Elishua (2 Sam. V, 15; 1 Chron. iii, 6; xiv, 5). B.C. post 1044. See David.
Ibis, a genus of birds of the family A rdeidce, or, ac- cording to some ornithologists, of Scolopacidce, and jier- haps to be regarded as a connecting link between them. The bill is long, slender, curved, thick at the base : the point rather obtuse ; the upper mandible deeply grooved throughout its length. The face, and generally the greater part of the head, and sometimes even the neck, are destitute of feathers, at least in adult birds. The neck is long. The legs are rather long, naked abo^-e the tarsal joint, with three partially united toes in front and one behind; the wings are moderately long; the tail is very short. The Sacred or Egyptian ibis (/6/*-
Sacred Ibis.
reliffiosa) is an African bird, two feet six inches in length, although the body is little larger than that of a common fowl. It was one of the birds worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, and called by them ffab or I/ib, and by the modern Egj-ptians Ahu-IIannes (i. e. Father John). It is represented on the monuments as a bird with long beak and legs, and a heart-shaped body, cov- ered with black and white plumage. It was supposed, from the color of its feathers, to symbolize the light and shade of the moon, its body to represent the heart; its legs described a triangle, and with its beak it per- formed a medical operation; from all which esoterical ideas it was the avatar of the god Thoth or Hermes (q. v.), who escaped in that shape the pursuit of Typhon, as the hawk was that of Ra, or Horns, the sun. Its feathers were supposed to scare, and even kill, the croc- odile. It appeared in Egypt at the rise, and disappear- ed at the inundation of the Nile, and was thought, at
that time, to deliver Egypt from the winged and othei serpents which came from Arabia in certain narrow passes. As it did not make its nest in Egypt, it was thought to be self-engendering, and to lay eggs for a lunar month. According to some, the basilisk was en- gendered by it. It was celebrated tor its jiurity, and only drank from the purest water, and the must strict of the priesthood only drank of the pools where it had been seen; besides which, it was fabled to entertain the most invincible love of Egypt, and to die of self-starva- tion if transported elsewhere. Its flesh was thought to be incorruptible after death, and to kill it was punisha- ble with death. Ibises were kept in the temples, and unmolested in the neighborhood of cities. After death they were mummied, and there is no animal of which so many remains have been foiuid at Thebes, JMemphis, Hermopolis IMagna, or Eshmun, and at Ibiu or Ibeum, fourteen miles north of the same place. They are made up into a conical shape, the wings flat, the legs bent back to the breast, the head placed on the left side, and the beak under the tail ; were prepared as other mum- mies, and wrapped up in linen bandages, which are sometimes plaited in patterns externally. At Tliebas tliey are found in linen bandages only; well preserved at Hermopolis in wooden or stone boxes of oblong form, sometimes in form of the bird itself, or the god Thoth , at Memphis, in conical sugar-loaf-shaped red earthen- ware jars, the tail downwards, the cover of convex form, cemented by lime. There appear to be two sorts of embalmed ibises — a smaller one of the size of a corn- crake, very black, and the other black and white — the lUs Numenius, or Ibis religiosa. This last is usually found with its eggs, and sometimes with its insect food, the Pimelia pilosa, Akis reflexa, and portions of snakes, in the stomach. (Wilkinson. Maimers and Customs, v, 7, 217; Passoloegua, Catalof/ue Raisonne, p. 255; Petti- grew, Ilktory of Mummies, p. 205; Hora2}ollo, i, c. 30, 30.) — Chambers.