FABLE AND FOLKLORE 141 



hostile purpose. The tradition of the Deluge suggested, 

 and usage has strengthened, the supposition that the olive 

 was the proper sort of branch to show (without danger 

 of misunderstanding), as was the practice of Roman 

 heralds, and the fact that this bird was associated with 

 the olive in Biblical legend has made the dove the "bird 

 of peace. ,, The olive-tree was given to Athens and the 

 world by Pallas Athene, patron of peace and plenty. 



As a matter of ornithology the choice of this bird as a 

 representative of peace is an unfortunate one, for pigeons 

 are unusually quarrelsome among themselves; it is 

 noticeable, however, that in all these relations the sym- 

 bolic dove is a white one — not the gray ring-dove. In 

 Japan, on the contrary doves are considered messengers 

 of war, which perhaps originated in the legend of an 

 escape from his enemies by the mythical hero Yoritomo. 

 He was hiding in a hollow tree, and when his pursuers 

 saw two doves fly out of the hollow they concluded no 

 one could be there and passed on. Yoritomo afterward 

 became shogun, and he erected shrines to the god of war, 

 whose birds are doves, become so, perhaps, by reason of 

 their pugnacity. 



Next to the dove (or perhaps the eagle) the peacock 

 appears to have most importance among birds as a 

 symbol. To us it stands as a vainglorious and foppish 

 personality of very little use in a practical world; and 

 India has a proverb that the crow that puts on peacock's 

 feathers finds that they fall out and that he has left only 

 the harsh voice. De Gubernatis 54 quotes another Hindoo 

 saying, that this bird has angel's feathers, a devil's voice 

 and a thief's walk. Other stories tell of the proud bird's 

 chagrin when he looks down and perceives how black and 



