FOREWORD 



BELIEVIiNTG that bird lovers generally will be inter- 

 ested in the literary history of these objects of their 

 affection, the author has endeavored to get together 

 the most important avian legends and superstitions and also 

 to discover in them evidences of apparent truth. Some of 

 the most agreeable and interesting legends of the past were 

 gathered about these guests of our groves whose actions 

 formed the basis of innumerable fancies and superstitions. 



Birds exercised a strong influence on prehistoric religion, 

 having been worshiped as gods in the earlier days, and, 

 later, looked upon as living representatives of the higher 

 powers. The Greeks went so far as to attribute the origin 

 of the world itself to the egg of some mysterious bird. 



Then in the days when mortals did not die at all, but 

 "passed," these small creatures, flitting about among the 

 trees, represented to those inhabiting the earth the visible 

 spirits of departed friends. The Aztecs believed that all 

 good people, as a reward of merit, were metamorphosed at 

 the close of life into feathered songsters, and as such were 

 permitted to pass a certain term in the beautiful groves of 

 Paradise. To them, as to all North American Indians, thun- 

 der was the cloud bird flapping his mighty wings, while the 

 lightning was the flash of his eye. /The peoples of other coun- 

 tries believed that the higher pow^s showed their displeasure 



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