Talismanic Stones in Birds.
Among the curiosities of ancient credulity was the belief that certain birds possessed stones of remarkable talismanic virtue. One of these was supposed to be found in the brain of the vulture, which gave health to the finder and successful results when soliciting favors. Dioscorides gives an account of the use of an eagle-stone in detecting larceny. The Alectorius, a stone worn by the wrestler Milo, was so called from being taken out of the gizzard of a fowl. A stone like a crystal, as large as a bean, extracted from a cock, was considered by the Romans to make the wearer invisible. Corvia was the name of a stone obtained from the nest of a crow. The swallow-stone was a Norman superstition, according to which the bird knows how to find on the seashore a stone that restores sight to the blind. Longfellow, in "Evangeline," says—
"Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone which the swallow
Brings from the shore of the sea, to restore the sight of her fledglings."