The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-01

giLIard and liver whom dried and powdered are
taken specifics for many complaints. Shy
poke feathers are common ornaments In negro
cabins, being held TO bring good luck, and II tho
housewife can get a buster made Of its wings
she Is happy.
Another DEVILS bird is the yellow hammer
the large beautifully colored woodpcckcr Of brown
red and gold that Ia common In all Southern for
csts The yellow hammer is not familiar like
the jaybird and docs not visit the Internal regions
at regular or irregular intervals but IL Is believed
to be especially under the protection Of Satan and
any man who Stays II is marked out for especial
Vaccinations on the part Of the Prince OF Dark
nesa He will be made i'll. OF he may die. In
any case, he will be 80 tempted that he will be
certain N fall and then punishment will follow.
The ow-hammer builds in tho hollows Of trees
and it's eggs are richly marked, but little negro
boys who are habitual robbers Of nests will not
disturb ta homo They are taught from their
cradle that there is no surer way TO evil fortune
The Ill repute Of the screech owl Is due probably
TO it's eerie calls Negroes regard It's crying about
a house at night precursor Of death, and when
the first note sounds through the chinks In the
cabins side they shiver and draw closer 10 the fire
and duck their heads between their shoulders
II some ono had struck at them. The shrek Of
this goggleeyed tiny prowler Ia worse than the
yelp Of the coyote for inspiring fear and IL is sup
posed to presage particularly the death OF child.
II there is child which Ia rare in negro family,
any grown person will do. The screech owl Ia so
seldom seen In the day time and is so plentiful in
its visits at night that Is responsible for causing
more terror among the negroes than anything
else that flies. A family setting out TO attend a
dance on a neghboring plantation will go back
into the hut and remain behind locked door until
daylight II il is greeted by screech owls un
canny boot Just when starting As the SAM
tary conditions are bad, as they are much ex-
posed and as their food is poor there are many
deaths. and among the Southern negroes there
also many owls II is not singular that coin
cidences occur. and each Of them tends only to
strengthen the belief that when the screecher cries
the rustic Of Azraels wings may be heard,
The various forms Of crow peculiar TO the South
are birds Of i'll omen. This includes all Of the
family OF ravens and blackbirds except the scar
let elbowed black bird which comes in the winter
time and is good to eat. Possibly its brilliant red
adornments save II from the condemnation. The
purple grackle which is frequenter OF barry a rds
and fond Of the company OF cows and horses, 10
looked upon with special aversion and a negro will
waste an hour, which should be devoted to work
endeavoring to force one OF these birds to leave
the premises and stay away Magpies. starlinEs
and black martins all objects Of aversion. Il
would seem that the negro hatred OF them IL due
primarily to their funereal color The darky loves
bright things and he is apt TO regard as evil any
thing which partakes Of the traditional hue OF the
devil An exception must be made Of the magpie
which Is disliked and believed TO be an i'll luck bird
much because IL is an irreform BILE thief as be-
Of its inky cloak. All OF this crowd O. flyers
partake Of the nature OF the Evil One and are class
ed among his subjects. On the contrary, red
birds, cardinals blue birds, tanagers. many Of the
green vireos and even the awkward pink famingo
are viewed with pleasure and their presence Is
welcomed about cabin clearing.
The negro is musical. is fond of music and is a
great hand for domestic pets Of all kinds partcu-
larry feathered kinds. No matter how poor a
family may be il is certain TO have chickens and
ducks about This is a racial propensity and the
marshes along the Orinoco river in eastern South
America are now populous with wild Muscovy
ducks descendants of tame fowls brought over in
the holds of slave ships along with their unhappy
owners two hundred years ago Yet one may
traverse any Of the Southern States from end to
end and he will never see a Gagged hooking bird in a
negro cabin. This is not because the African does
not enjoy the birds marvellous voice and roper
tory. He does, and will quit work at any time, il
there is no one watching. 70 listen to the singing
But the negroes do not cage the mocker and keep
it in their homes because they credit il with having
little bundle of gray has an extensive vocabulary
Of its own which is true enough, that II under
stands the speech Of humanity that il never for
gets anything and that at the first opportunity il
retals family secrets for the benefit OF any Of it's
kindred which may be in trees within sound Of it's
voice. These in turn fly away to retail the news
all over the country. In some mysterious way,
which the darkey does not attempt to xplain, the
information gets to the white folks, Petty thefts
of such things as chickens, watermelons, garden
vegetables and so forth are very common among
the Southern blacks In many cases they are
forced into the trifiing dishonesty by lack of an
adequate food supply One OF them who kept a
mocking bird would be regarded as doomed. He
would as well go to the nearest country store and
proclaim his guilt Despite this distrust or dread
Of the mocker. negroes never slay il when II is in
freedom but their kindness TO il is due to desire TO
curry favor with il and not TO appreciation of its
beauty of body and voice. In fact the negro
while fond Of its singing. looks upon il as an ofic
Gus bearer OF evil tidings and common name for
It's "tattle buhd" or NEEDLE buhd" This belief In
analogous to the white expression. "A little bird
told me-" often given in response TO questions.
The dusky dwellers on the plantations are
down on the cuckoo The women are especially
inmical TO il because they think its presence pro-
duces barrenness. They do not know il as the
women will break UP cuckoo nest wherever they
find il negro woman who hates another negro
woman will Use up some time and patience en-
deavoring To mix a hard boiled cuckoo egg with
her enemy's food. II she cannot do that she
will endeavor to slit some of the powdered egg
shell on her hair. Many bitter feuds have been
caused by this A chdcss negro woman is a
rarity, the race being especially fecund, but now
and then one is found and she will always declare
that some unknown rival or foewoman has dosed
her with rain crow aigs." The superstition
may have its base in the cuCkoo's refusal 10 build
nest OF its own, and its success in dspossess-
ing other birds Of the homes they have constructed
The cuckoo will also dcvour or destroy in wan
tonness all eggs il may And in captured nest
and il its incurson be made a little late in the
season il is apt IN produce barrenness in that
particular bird family.
A superstition is harder to kill than an estab-
lished daily paper and once the property of a
race II will outlast the race Long ago the negroes
became mbued with dislike To a growing hen.
The old Anglo-Saxon distch about whistling
woman and growing hen never coming to a