CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | A Chat with the Intending Reader | [3] |
| II. | Birds as National Emblems | [28] |
| III. | An Ornithological Comedy of Errors | [51] |
| IV. | The Folklore of Bird Migration | [81] |
| V. | Noah’s Messengers | [98] |
| VI. | Birds in Christian Tradition and Festival | [109] |
| VII. | Birds as Symbols and Badges | [127] |
| VIII. | Black Feathers make Black Birds | [154] |
| IX. | The Familiar of Witches | [179] |
| X. | A Flock of Fabulous Fowls | [191] |
| XI. | From Ancient Auguries to Modern Rainbirds | [212] |
| XII. | A Primitive View of the Origin of Species | [226] |
| XIII. | Birds and the Lightning | [242] |
| XIV. | Legends in an Historical Setting | [253] |
| XV. | Some Pretty Indian Stories | [270] |
| List of Books Referred to | [282] | |
| Index | [287] |
BIRDS IN LEGEND
FABLE AND FOLKLORE
CHAPTER I
A CHAT WITH THE INTENDING READER
Angus Mac-ind-oc was the Cupid of the Gaels. He was a harper of the sweetest music, and was attended by birds, his own transformed kisses, which hovered, invisible, over young men and maidens of Erin, whispering love into their ears.
When we say, “A little bird told me,” we are talking legend and folklore and superstition all at once. There is an old Basque story of a bird—always a small one in these tales—that tells the truth; and our Biloxi Indians used to say the same of the hummingbird. Breton peasants still credit all birds with the power of using human language on proper occasions, and traditions in all parts of the world agree that every bird had this power once on a time if not now. The fireside-tales of the nomads of Oriental deserts or of North American plains and forest alike attest faith in this power; and conversation by and with birds is almost the main stock of the stories heard on our Southern cotton-plantations. You will perhaps recall the bulbul bazar of the Arabian Nights, and, if you please, you may read in another chapter of the conversational pewit and hoopoe of Solomonic fame.
Biblical authority exists in the confidence of the Prophet Elijah that a “bird of the air ... shall tell the matter”; and monkish traditions abound in revelations whispered in the ear of the faithful by winged messengers from divine sources, as you may read further along if you have patience to turn the leaves. The poets keep alive the pretty fiction; and the rest of us resort to the phrase with an arch smile whenever we do not care to quote our authority for repeating some half-secret bit of gossip. “This magical power of understanding birdtalk,” says Halliday,[[1]][[A]] “is regularly the way in which the seers of myths obtain their information.”
[A]. This and similar “superior” figures throughout the text refer to the List of Books in the Appendix, where the author and title of the publication alluded to will be found under its number.
The author takes this opportunity, in place of a perfunctory Preface, to make grateful acknowledgment of assistance to Professor A. V. H. Jackson, who revised the chapter on fabulous birds; to Mr. Stewart Culin, helpful in Chinese matters, etc.; to Professor Justin H. Smith, who scanned the whole manuscript; and to others who furnished valuable facts and suggestions.