The calls of birds are perhaps more frequently considered as good
presages than as unlucky ones. Among the Slavonic nations, especially
the Poles and Lithuanians, the hooting of the owl predicts misery and
death. Also in Germany, if the little screech-owl makes its appearance
in a village during a moonlight night, and settling on a farm-building
emits its melancholy notes, some people are sure to hint that there will
be ere long a death in the family of the householder. Moreover, a
similar superstition prevails in Hindustan.[19]
The croaking of a raven is considered in Russia and Servia as foreboding
the shedding of blood.[20] The ancient tradition of the singing of the
dying swan is familiar to everyone. Although our common swan does not
produce sounds which might account for this tradition, it is a
well-known fact that the wild swan (_cygnus ferus_), also called the
whistling swan, when on the wing emits a shrill tone, which, however
harsh it may sound if heard near, produces a pleasant effect when,
emanating from a large flock high in the air, it is heard in a variety
of pitches of sound, increasing or diminishing in loudness according to
the movements of the birds and to the current of the wind. With the idea
of the song of the dying swan appears to be connected the Scandinavian
tradition of the Valkyrjas, who were maidens in armour with wings of
swans. During a battle the Valkyrjas approached floating through the
air, and hovering over the scene of carnage, they indicated who were to
fall in the fight.[21]
The cuckoo is regarded by the Russians and by most other Slavonic
nations as a bird of sadness. According to a Servian tradition the
cuckoo (called _kukawiza_) was a girl who wept so continually for her
deceased brother that she was transformed into a bird, which in two
melancholy tones sends its unabating complaint through the air. A
Servian girl who has lost her brother (lover?) never hears the cuckoo
without shedding tears. Moreover, in Servia the cuckoo is considered as
a prophetic bird, especially by the _heyduk_, or robber, who augurs from
its earlier or later singing.[22]
Among the Germanic races the notes of the cuckoo, when in the spring it
first makes itself heard, are generally considered as a good omen. It is
still, as from Teutonic mythology it appears to have been in ancient
time, a belief among the peasantry in Germany that if anybody counts the
number of times this bird repeats its call, he may ascertain from it how
many years he has still to live, or how many years will elapse before an
event comes to pass which he has reason to expect. There is an old story
told of a person who, having led a rather wicked life, in order to atone
for it resolved to become a monk for the rest of his life. It happened
that, just as he was entering the monastery, he heard the cuckoo crying
its name the first time in the spring. He anxiously counted the number
of calls; and finding them to amount to twenty-two repetitions, he at
once changed his mind. "If I have to live twenty-two years longer," he
argued with himself, "I may as well enjoy twenty years longer the
pleasures of this world, and then I shall have two whole years left to
denounce its vanities in a monastery." So he at once returned to the
world.
The country-lasses in Sweden count the cuckoo's call to ascertain how
many years they have still to remain unmarried; but they generally shut
their ears and run away when they have heard it a few times. Should a
girl hear it oftener than ten times, she will declare rather vexedly
that she is not superstitious, and that she has not the least faith in
the cuckoo's call.