If this chapter be known he will re-enter after coming forth by day.
Notes.
[1.] The Swallow
. The objection to this meaning is that the bird in question was eaten; and that doves or pigeons would be less meagre food than the Swallow, and therefore more probably intended in the Egyptian texts. But Swallows are still eaten at Rome, where like Clive Newcome we may be regaled not only with “wild swans and ducks” but with “robins, owls, and οἰωνοῖσι τε πᾶσι for dinner.” And Willughby, the naturalist, found a large quantity of swallows being sold for food at Valencia in Spain.
The flat head, the short legs, and the tail of the bird are characteristic not of the pigeon but of the swallow, and on many pictures (e.g., pl. xxi, vignette from Leyden papyrus) we are reminded of the song—
Ἦλθ’ ἦλθε χελιδὼν ...
ἐπὶ γαστέρα λευκὰ
ἐπὶ νῶτα μέλαινα.