io BIRDS IN LEGEND 



rated and was believed to carry to the knowledge of the 

 departed one a whispered message of love. 



Now the idea underlying all this faith in the super- 

 natural wisdom and prophetic gift in birds is the general 

 supposition that they are spirits, or, at any rate, possessed 

 by spirits, a doctrine that appears in various guises but is 

 universal in the world of primitive culture — a world 

 nearer to us sophisticated readers than perhaps we 

 realize: but a good many little children inhabit it, even 

 within our doors. 



"The primitive mind, ,, as Dr. Brinton asserts, "did not 

 recognize any deep distinction between the lower animals 

 and man"; and continues: 



The savage knew that the beast was his superior in many 

 points, in craft and in strength, in fleetness and intuition, and he 

 regarded it with respect. To him the brute had a soul not in- 

 ferior to his own, and a language which the wise among men 

 might on occasion learn. . . . Therefore with wide unanimity 

 he placed certain species of animals nearer to God than is man 

 himself, or even identified them with the manifestations of the 

 Highest. 



None was in this respect a greater favorite than the bird. 

 Its soaring flight, its strange or sweet notes, the marked hues 

 of its plumage, combined to render it a fit emblem of power 

 and beauty. The Dyaks of Borneo trace their descent to 

 Singalang Burong, the god of birds; and birds as the ancestors 

 of the totemic family are extremely common among the 

 American Indians. The Eskimos say that they have the faculty 

 of soul or life beyond all other creatures, and in most primitive 

 tribes they have been regarded as the messengers of the divine, 

 and the special purveyors of the vital principles . . . and every- 

 where to be able to understand the language of birds was 

 equivalent to being able to converse with the gods. 4 



If this is true it is not surprising that savages in various 

 parts of the world trace their tribal origin to a super- 

 natural bird of the same form and name as some familiar 



