SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT BIRDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 143, 18 June 1887, Page 3 (Supplement)

SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT BIRDS.

Visitors Which Ering Bad Luck -Omens of Good and Evil. In Ifrance the handsome white owl, with its plumage,- is accepted everywhere as a.forerunner of death. As if that were not enough to draw upon it the animadversion of all, this bird is often accused of sacrilege, for in Provence and Languedoc it is charged with drinking the oil of the. church lamps. In the south of Germany the crow bespeaks good luck, but in France anything but that if seen in the morning. The same with tho magpie—ill-luck if it iiies on your left; if on the°contrAry, on the right, you may be assured that the day will be a fortunate one. In England the influence of tho appearance of this" saucy bird' upon current events is oovcrnod by the number in which ib appears, and is thus summed up. ', ~. .- Ono for sorrow, Two for mirth ; Three for a wedding; ......,...,„.,,.,. Fonrforabirth.

Among the negroes of the Southern states the" ■ moaning , dove moans.to"save a man's soul. To kill one of these; doves is a sign "of death, but more frequently the death of a child. A buzzard .or a. crow on a housetop is believed bythe same people to be an in variable sign of death or disaster ; a visit at the door from a'rooster, the approaching visit of a friend ; the notes of the screeching owl, or "shivering " owl, are a.bad omen of many interpretationsy while, if the com-mon-owl-hoots on your right, good luck will follow, but bad luck should he take up his position on your left side and hoot therefrom. The reputation of all/night birds, great or small; is no better, but Southern imagination has discovered a remedy for all • 'their spells. It consists of throwing a pinch of salt into the fire as soon as their so nd is heard.' ■~ :. If a chuffinch perches on your windowsill beware of treachery. It was the wren which aided Prmoetheus in steahng the sacred fire of knowledge from beneath Jove's throne in heaven. Accordingly, he who kills a wren will have: His home desstroyed; If you have money in your pocket when you hear the cuckoo for time, it is a good omen, and you will have your pockets well lined during the year: if,'oh the contrary, you: have no .money, cultivate your friends, for you will be in need of their assistance before long. J. he blackbird which crosses your road brings you good luck. , No physician should'fail to procure a bed of partridge feathers! A patient laicl upon such a bed, no matter what" his disease, will never die of it, at'though be will npfc, necessarily get well.