FABULOUS BIRDS 



CHAPTER XVI 



Gryphon. Roc. Phoenix. Li\^r. Harpy. 



In ancient days men were not content with 

 their more or less distorted observations of the 

 wild creatures around them : they constantly set 

 themselves to invent new ones. No doubt, 

 as Conway says in his " Demonology and Devil- 

 lore " the conception of many of these mythical 

 monsters has arisen mainly from an exaggerated 

 view of the forms actually in existence, but that 

 in other cases, the invention of nondescript 

 compound animals is traceable to a more artistic 

 and poetic idea. Thus the Chim^sera, Satyr, 

 Harpy, and others may be taken to be efforts 

 to realise types of evil, * ' the claw principle, fang 

 principle in the universe, the physiognomies of 

 venom and pain detached from the forms to which 

 they are accidental." 



In any case it is curious to note how prominent 

 a place these apparently crude and barbaric 

 inventions have taken, not only in poetry and 

 sculpture, where a deeper underlying meaning 

 is hinted at, but also in heraldry, and even in the 

 signs and symbols of commercial enterprises. 



Birds, of course, were naturally popular with 

 the fable makers. The Gryphon was supposed 



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