Preface 



worship of animals and assigns a reason for it : 

 "Even the beasts remember the services once 

 rendered them ; and when we implore them 

 they do not desert us, for they know what has 

 happened." 



While drawing attention to the bird gods of 

 ancient Europe, I do not wish to be accused 

 of allowing one theory 

 to run away with me. 

 No one can be more con- 

 scious that many threads 

 unite in a god or popu- 

 lar hero. I do not con- 

 tend that all gods of old 

 were bird gods, nor even that the popular 

 conceptions of those here treated were built 

 solely from the traits of the bird in question. 

 Sometimes two birds of separate natures seem 

 to blend in one god or hero, as when he gets 

 his name from one bird, but some of his 

 traits from another. 



XV 



