The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-03
BIRDS OF ILL OMEN.
Some Which Have Been So Regarded
From Early Times.

From Early Times.
There are several birds, perfectly
harmless toward man, which have ever
been held in evil repute, it would seem,
from a similar cause to that which in
former times invested old women when
of eccentric habits or aspect with the
character of witches, and rendered
them objects of superstitious dread. The
owl and the raven, that are much given
to following solitary walks in life, are
instances in point. They have ever
from remote ages been ostracised as un-
lucky birds, birds of ill-emen, and so
forth.
The OWL says the Chicago News, was
so reckoned in early Roman times, and
the poet Ovid terms him "the unlucky
fowl abhorred by men, and called the
screeching owl" Vigil, too, speaks in
like depreciatory terms of the raven:
The hoarse raven on the blasted
bough
By croaking from the left, presaged
the coming blow"
Martin Luther in one of his writings
alludes in very severe terms to the
raven, and we can all recall Poes cele-
brated poem to which he gives his
name for title. The Romans, we learn,
had special officers, selected from the
patrician class, one of whose duties 1t
was to study the omens of the owl, the
crow, and other birds, and interpret
them to the people. Butler in "Hudi-
bras" has well hit off this proceeding
where he alludes to the Roman senate,
when an owl was seen within the city
walls, causing the priests with lustra-
tons to avert the round-faced prodigy
from doing town or country hurt In
Shakespeare the owl Is often quoted,
notably when 1T is said of Richard III,
1.-THE owl shrieked at his birth, an evil
sign: and in Macbeth" "the raven is
hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance Of
Duncan under the battlements."
The maybe is well known to betoken
misfortune. Now there is natural ex-
PLANTATION about seeing one magpie
which may have given rise to this be-
lief. The fact is that in cold and
stormy weather one magpie alone leaves
the nest in search of food, the other re-
naming sitting on the eggs or the
young brood: but in fine and mild
weather under the same conditions
both magpies are at liberty to leave the
nest together. The notion Is thus po-
etically expressed, Ones sorrow, twos
mirth' (bad and fine weather). Sew
eral of the superstitions regarding birds
appear at first sight positively hui
name. Thus the small size OF the Wren,
and the trust in humanity shown by
the robin have disarmed even boys and
secured an immunity Of their nests from
plumber. The innocence of the dove also
appeals strongly to rustic sentiment;
but in part SO, perhaps, owing to the
fact that it is not considered good or
lucky to use it's feathers in bed.
Sailors are unreasonable respecting
that well-known bird, the stormy Pc
trel. 1t is mainly in consequence of its
ever being seen prior to the occurrence
of snow storms, whose utmost rage
never seems to disturb 1t, MS /. boldly
breasts the waves and faces the blasts,
uttering the while its low cry. The an
| Gent mariner absurdly considered it as
raising the storm, which it's habits only
bring 1t in connection with, and exc
Grated it accordingly. This belle. las
unfortunately survived to The present
day. las WELL" wrote Wilson, the
ornithologist, might the sailors curse
| the light house that guides them on
their lonely way, or the Buoy That
warns of the sunken rock below" Tie
petrol is in reality a monitor Of the APP
| proach of stormy weather, and as such
| is deserving of the hig asst considera-
ton, which he cert lllly does not re-
| CeiVe