BIRDS IN LEGEND 

 FABLE AND FOLKLORE 



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 trans- 

 formed 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 cot- 

 ton-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 



