The Peacock.
The peacock is, of course, a sacred bird. He is specially venerated by the Jâts, who strongly object to seeing the bird killed near their villages. A bunch of the feathers is waved over the sick to scare the demon of disease. As we have already seen, it is a charm against snake-bite to smoke one of its feathers in a pipe. In Europe the loud calling of the bird presages a death.
The Pheasant.
Once upon a time the Monâl pheasant of the Hills and the Kalchuniya had a dispute as to when the sun arose. The Monâl woke first and then walked between the legs of the other, who was so injured that he has never been able to do anything but skip ever since.
The Kite.
Young kites do not open their eyes till they are shown a bit of gold. The best cure for weak eyes is to apply to them antimony mixed with the yolk of a kite’s egg, a good instance of sympathetic magic, because the kite is the most long-sighted of birds. When sweepers suffer from rheumatic pains, they kill a kite on Tuesday, cut up the bones, and tie them to the affected part, which brings about an immediate cure.[144]