252 CONCLUSION. 



place is Westminster Abbey — reminding us of the consort of King Athelstan, 

 who, in an ancient sculpture in the church of Milton Abbas, Dorsetshire, 

 appears with her Falcon on her Royal fist (cf. Pennant's ' Arctic Zoology,' 

 Yol. i. p. 239). We have also noticed the Crows of Cressy ; and I may 

 mention that " Passer solitarius," as she was called by Cecil, the last of the 

 Tudors, Elizabeth. 



In Part V. (p. 105) there is an illustration of Mother Carey and her 

 chickens. This may appear somewhat childish ; but it represents not her so 

 much as the superstitious belief connected with the Petrel, which has 

 influenced more or less the minds of men. 



" Outflying the blast and the driving rain, 

 The Petrel telleth her tale^in vain ; 

 For the mariner curseth the warning bird. 

 Who briageth him news of the storm unheard. 



" Ah ! thus does the prophet of good or ill 

 Meet hate from the creatures he serveth still ; 

 Yet he ne'er falters : so, Petrel, spring 

 Once more o'er the waves on thy stormy wing." 



Barry Cornwall. 



In the pages of the ' Ornithological Miscellany ' I have humbly endea- 

 voured to notice not only birds but bird-lore, and the bearing the feathered 

 race has had upon our lives and fortunes. 



Thus the Jewish archer MosoUam, taking his life in his hand, shot the 

 bird from which the soothsayers were drawing their auguries. Yet he aimed 

 not at it ; for religious superiority, with some skill, caused the bold bowman 

 to pierce with his arrow erroneous belief, and level it into the dust. Dean 

 Stanley alludes to this, ' History of the Jewish Church,' p. 245. 



When in former days a man felt embarrassed, he did not put his hands 



