SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &c. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS.
(_Concluded from page 213_.)
The oriental fable of the _Roc_ has its probable origin in the condor,
which is undoubtedly the largest and strongest bird of the vulture tribe
in existence, and extremely ravenous. Minerva's bird, the _Owl_, is well
known as one of ill omen; besides the superstitious idea that the
screech-owl foretells death by its cry, it was formerly believed to suck
the blood of children. The Mongol and Calmuc Tartars have held the _White
Owl_ sacred since the days of Genghis Khan, when a bird of this species
having settled on a bush in which that prince had hidden himself from his
enemies, those who pursued him past it, not believing that a bird would
perch on a bush wherein a man was concealed. The _Raven_ has ever been
considered by the vulgar as a bird of evil omen, the indicator of
misfortunes and death; and, indeed, the superstition is but consonant with
a bird of such funereal note and hue, and exhibiting such goule-like
propensities. The Swedes, however, regard it as sacred, and no one offers
to molest it. In the north of England, one _Magpie_ flying alone, is
deemed an ill omen; two together, a fortunate one; three forebode a
funeral, and four a wedding; or, when on a journey, to meet two magpies
portends a wedding; three, a successful journey; four, unexpected good
news; and five, that the person will soon be in company with the great. To
kill a magpie, indicates or brings down some terrible misfortune. The
_Sparrow Hawk_ was sacred with the Egyptians, and the symbol of Osiris.
The _Yellow Hammer_ is superstitiously considered an agent _diablerie_.
The _Wheat-Ear_ is, in the Highlands, a detested bird, and fancied one of
evil omen, on account of its frequenting old churchyards, where it nestles
amongst the stones, and finds plenty of insects for food. The _Woodcock_
is, we believe, the bird imagined to drop, in its proper season, from the
moon. It is a vulgar error, that the song of the _Nightingale_ is
melancholy, and that it only sings by night; but to hear the Cuckoo before
the Nightingale has been long deemed an unsuccessful omen in love: the
saliva of the cuckoo has been thought to preserve all it falls upon.
"The _Robin_ and the _Wren_
Are God Almighty's cock and hen,"
says the old distich, and whilst it is reckoned wicked to kill either of
these (not but that there is an ancient custom of "hunting the wren" still
kept up, we believe, in some parts of this country,) it is considered
unlucky to kill a _Swallow_, or _House-Martin_. The _King-fisher_ is the
Halcyon of the ancients, who imagined that during the process of
incubation by the female the sea remained unvexed by storms; hence
"halcyon days." The feathers of this bird are employed by the Tartars for
many superstitious purposes; they consider them amulets of priceless value,
enabling them to inspire women with love. In more civilized countries it
was once believed, that if the body of a kingfisher were suspended by a
thread, some magnetic influence would turn its breast to the north: others
thought it a preserver of woollen cloths from moths. The _Albatross_ (by
some considered the kingfisher or halcyon,) is fabled to sleep in the air,
never to touch the earth; and to kill one is reckoned supremely unlucky.
There is an Indian bird, the name of which has unfortunately escaped us,
that is feigned to live only on the rain-drops which it can draw with its
bill from the clouds; in a dry season, therefore, this bird perishes. Of
the _Bird of Paradise_ the following wonders were once credited: viz. that
the egg was laid in the air by the female, and there hatched by the male
in an orifice of his body; that it had no legs (these however are long,
and a disfigurement to the body, which the Indians know, and fearful of
their depreciating the value of the bird, upon capturing it, cut them off);
that it hung itself by the two long feathers of its tail on a tree when
sleeping; that it never touched the ground during any period of its
existence, and fed wholly on dew. The Indians also believe that the leader,
or king of the birds of paradise is black, with red spots, and that he
soars far away from the rest of the flock, which, however, never quit him,
but settle where he does. The _Gigantic Crane_ is believed by the Indians
to be invulnerable, and animated by the souls of deceased Brahmins; the
Africans hold it in equal veneration. Whence arises the classical fable
that swans sing their own dirge just previous to death, and expire singing
it? The wild swan certainly may be said to whistle, but the tame has no
other note than a hiss, and this only when provoked. The Kamschatdales and
Kuriles wear round their necks the bills of _Puffins_, as an amulet which
ensures good fortune. Who was _Mother Carey_?--The wife, perhaps, of
"_Davy_," and keeper of his "locker;" Mother Carey's chickens is the
well-known appellation, in _tarrish_ tongue, of _Stormy Petrels_, not
superstitiously supposed to forebode tempests, since they seem their very
element; but it is probable that to Mother Carey herself (we crave her
pardon--_Mistress_) some astounding "yarn" is attached. The _Stork_, the
_Crane_, and the _Pelican_, are each the subject of idle stories; the
latter has been asserted to feed her young with her own bosom's blood, and
to fill her pouch with water in order to supply them in the desert. A
notion is entertained by the ignorant that the _Bittern_ thrusts its bill
into a reed, which serves as a pipe to increase the volume of its natural
note, and swell it above pitch; and in some places a tradition prevails
that it thrusts its head into water and then blows with all its might. It
is erroneous that the _Ostrich_ lays her eggs in the sand, depending
solely on the sun's rays to hatch them; the truth is that, as from the
heat of her native climate, it is not always necessary for her to sit upon
them, she simply does what numerous birds in colder latitudes are well
known to do; viz. cover them, that they may not, during her absence, lose
their heat.
The popular opinion that the _Turtle Dove_, of either sex, should it
happen to lose its mate, remains ever after in a state of disconsolate
celibacy, is, we believe, disproved by the fact, at least as respects
these birds in a wild state; but we may remark, that the loss of a
companion to more than one kind of _domesticated_ bird, if it has been
brought up with one, even though not in the same cage, is sometimes so
severely deplored by the survivor, as to occasion its death, if the loss
be not speedily supplied. The old story of _Swallows_ passing the winter
in a state of torpidity at the bottom of rivers, lakes, and ponds, has
been frequently agitated, asserted to be a fact by one party, and totally
disproved by the other. The reader may be amused to learn, that very
recently we were assured by one, who _knew it for an absolute fact_, that
ducks and even chickens (!!!) had been found in a certain farmer's pond,
laid up in winter quarters, which were revived by the warmth of the sun
and upper air, upon being fished out of it!! "Regarding _Birds' Eggs_,"
says the Naturalist in his interesting Journal, "we have a very foolish
superstition here (Gloucestershire:) the boys may take them unrestrained,
but their mothers so dislike their being kept in the house, that they
usually break them; their presence may be tolerated for a few days, but by
the ensuing Sunday they are frequently destroyed, under the idea that they
bring bad luck, or prevent the coming of good fortune, as if in some way
offensive to the domestic deity of the hearth."
Here, then, we pause; some abler hand may, perhaps, be tempted to take up
the subject as we leave it, for there are yet gleanings, in the field, of
"Superstitions and Fables connected with animals," over which our leisure
has allowed us but lightly to pass; gleanings sufficient to reward the
industrious and the curious; or, it may even be, that we shall return,
some day, to this topic ourselves, time and materials permitting.
_Great Marlow, Bucks_. M.L.B.
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