OMENS FROM BIRDS 3 1 3 



vultures seen at the founding of Rome, were 

 superseded by elaborate rules of divination. The 

 eagle still maintained its reputation as the direct 

 messenger of Jove ; but many other birds were 

 ' scheduled ' on the prophetic list, and these again 

 were divided into voice birds and flight birds, for 

 the purpose of augury. The raven, crow, jackdaw, 

 and owl were among the former ; and as nine 

 different cries of the owl were distinguished for the 

 purpose of divination, their interpretation must have 

 been altogether confined to experts. Among the 

 ' flight-birds/ the eagle, vulture, buzzard, and two 

 kinds of woodpecker were the most important ; and 

 only one bird, the horned owl, seems to have been 

 considered to be at all times a prophet of ill. But 

 with all this apparatus of bird-divination, the omen 

 of the single eagle seems always to have out- 

 weighed the rest in popular estimation. Among all 

 the omens of Vespasian's greatness, on which public 

 attention was fixed by the vague though persistent 

 rumour that the time was ripe for a ' ruler ' to 

 appear from Judasa, it was that of the eagle perch- 

 ing on his tent which carried most conviction. 



The complete effacement of this nervous atten- 

 tion to omens by birds after the conversion of the 

 Roman world, is difficult to explain. In the whole 

 mass of early Christian legend, these natural portents 



