#mummified animals

June 23, 2020 | The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow (2018)

I read the picture book The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow (2018), by Jan Thornhill. (I also read Thornhill’s The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk [2016].) In general, her books are informational, interesting, and nicely illustrated. In the house sparrow one, which takes the reader through the history of the house sparrow, there’s a spread referring to the Ancient Egyptians. The text in the spread reads:

Long before the Great Pyramid was built, the Ancient Egyptians were using a hieroglyph of a House Sparrow to describe something as “bad” or “evil.” So even that far back the bird must have been an agricultural pest. The Egyptians were expert bird-netters, though, and they would have caught large numbers in grain fields and nighttime roosts.

What did they do with all the sparrows they caught?

A clue lies inside a two-thousand-year-old falcon mummy. Scans have shown the remains of a House Sparrow in its stomach.

For centuries, mummified falcons, cats, crocodiles, ibises and other animals were purchased by Egyptians to offer to their gods in return for favors. So many of these animals were mummified — millions have been found — that they must have been raised for the purpose. And what better food for a captive cat or falcon than a common, fast-breeding field pest like the House Sparrow?

And if you search on the Internet for “sparrow” and “hieroglyph,” for example, you’ll find quite a few images of these birds roosting in walls filled with hieroglyphs. 

She is gorgeous. A tiny bit of blood around the beak and what seemed like a broken neck. Car, prob. Legs stiff but not toes and pliable everywhere else. Rigor sets in for small birds in as little as 2 hrs, but it was in the 30s overnight so I'm gonna say she could be up to 6hrs gone.

I double-checked the law bc I'm paranoid and sparrows are exempt, as an invasive species. If you're not aware, it's illegal to keep anything related to a native migratory bird in the US, including found specimens, feathers, eggshells, etc. (There are exceptions for indigenous ppl and those with scientific permits, like ornithologists collecting data.) The reason is a good one - ppl over-collected birds for fashion, so bc they didn't know how to act, we had to protect the tweeters. Shed feathers, etc. are also illegal to keep bc you can't prove you didn't harm a bird to get it. As a fan of dead friends, I don't like it. But if it's what's best for species we've harmed, I accept it. Just FYI if you also like dead friends or feathers or whatever.

Anyway, she is lovely and my first birb. 🥰🐦 I'm doing the mammal jar process. I'm not certain that it'll work like I hope. Most resources call for vinegar and witch hazel. But alcohol is purportedly non-damaging to feathers, so I'm not sure why. I'm still hesitant to name her, just in case I'm doing it wrong and can't keep her.

Side note/update: Valtiel the garter snake is completely dry. They held their shape beautifully. Their head kinda lifted up as they dried, but I actually like it. 😊 Also, they smell like grass???

I also took Drew out of the mummification box today. (He'd been in there since July, so I figured it was long past time.) He's so handsome!! His one eye stayed open, so he's winking. 😉 I'm thinking about mounting him on a wooden plaque so he can sit on a shelf without worrying about falling off.

Ok I'll shut up now. Wait.

I guess I always supposed these were captive animals and birds. For the birds, anyway, the evidence seems to point to wild, though. Interesting method of discovery for that.