Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



at once to point out to it the advantage of 

 being a parasite, teaching it how to profit by 

 the kindliness of similar hosts thereafter. 



Such refinements of observation can scarcely 

 be expected from the ancients, nor in the pres- 

 ent from rustics. To the ancients the cuckoo 

 was a darling of crime whose knavery endeared 

 him to them, whose supposed wickedness struck 

 them with the horrified admiration that peasants 

 often show for brazen criminals. Was not the 

 ancient chief or Druid or rainmaker or medi- 

 cine-man a person who lived on his wits 

 through the credulity of his less clever fellows ? 

 How could hv" pil tc admire a bird that showed 

 its '' smcatness " by shoving on the shoulders 

 of others the trouble of child-rearing .^ Foster- 

 age of children, a custom found particularly 

 rife in Ireland, may well have had its vogue 

 through imitation of this bird. 



The ancients believed that cuckoos took no 

 further care of their young put out to nurse. 

 Thanks to ceaseless vigils on the part of men 



57 



