Bird Legends. 



i6i 



" This engagement will, I hope, in more 

 ways than one, enable me to proceed with 

 my intended ornithology, to which all my 

 leisure moments will be devoted. In the 

 mean time, I anticipate with diffidence the 

 laborious and very responsible situation I 

 am soon to be placed in, requiring a much 

 more general fund of scientific knowledge, 

 and stronger powers of mind than I am 



possessed of; but all these objections have 

 been overruled, and I am engaged." 



This proved the stepping-stone to suc- 

 cess in the great object of his life, which he 

 soon unfolded to Mr. Bradford, who 

 thought so favorably of the undertaking, 

 and of Wilson's abilities, that he agreed to 

 become the publisher, and furnish the 

 requisite funds. 



BIRD LEGENDS. 



AMONG the various superstitions re- 

 lating to the animal creation, our 

 feathered friends play an important part, 

 and it may not be uninteresting to retail 

 some of the principal traditions and popular 

 beliefs concerning them. 



We will begin with the raven, who takes 

 the place of the eagle in northern myth- 

 ology. He was sacred to Wodan, and was 

 believed to be his especial companion. 

 Wodan had two ravens, named Huginn and 

 Muninn, who reported to him all the news 

 of the world; and, furthermore, announced 

 to heroes their approaching death. Thence 

 arises the universal belief that the croaking 

 of a raven portends a death. In the Mid- 

 dle Ages, evil spirits were supposed to as- 

 sume the form of ravens, for when Christ- 

 ianity transformed Wodan into the devil, 

 his winged messenger became uncanny. 

 Sometimes a sight of a raven brings ill- 

 fortune, and sometimes it betokens good; 

 but whoever finds a feather will have luck. 



In Swabia, a flight of ravens foretells 

 war, and in the Tyrolese Oetz-Thal, people 

 say that, when ravens fly around some 

 particular pasture, and suddenly dart to 

 the ground, a cow will die within three 

 days. The Tyrolese peasantry declare that 

 the ravens are so clever that "they scent 

 the powder in the gun," and that is the 

 reason it is so difficult to shoot them. Ac- 

 cording to a Tyrol legend, the ravens and 



crows once had snow-white plumage, and 

 were beautiful birds, very proud of their 

 appearance. They were especially fond of 

 frequenting the neighborhood of streams, 

 and bathed a great deal. One day they 

 were thus engaged, when the Holy Child 

 drew near to quench His burning thirst, 

 but the ravens splashing in the water made 

 it quite thick and muddy. Then the Holy 

 Boy said: "Because ye are so ungrateful 

 and so vain of your dazzling white plum- 

 age, ye shall henceforth have naught but 

 black feathers unto the end of the world." 



In the Lech Valley there is a belief that 

 the ravens never drink during June, because 

 in that month they feed the prophet Elijah. 

 In North Germany, Swabia, and Tyrol, a 

 superstition prevails, that if the eggs are 

 taken from a raven's nest, boiled, and re- 

 placed, the old raven will bring a root or 

 stone to the nest, which he fetches from 

 the sea. This "raven stone" is very valu- 

 able, for it confers great good fortune on 

 its owner, and has likewise the power of 

 rendering him invisible when worn on the 

 arm. The stone is found in the nests of 

 magpies as well as ravens, and as it makes 

 the nest itself invisible, it must be sought 

 with the aid of a mirror. 



In Pomerania and Riigen, the method is 

 somewhat different. The parent birds 

 must have attained the age of a hundred 

 years, and the would-be possessor of the 



