The Congo peafowl was only discovered in 1936 in the rain forests of the eastern Congo and called Hokoe by the natives. The name is derived from its song, “Hokoe, hokoe, hokoe,” sung around 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. It is believed that this bird tells people to wake up or to return home from […]
Bird stories, Common Crane (Grus grus)
A Wolf once devoured his prey so ravenously that a bone stuck in his throat, giving him great pain. He ran howling up and down in his suffering and offered to reward handsomely any one who would pull the bone out. A Crane, moved by pity as well as by the prospect of the money, […]
Bird stories, Corncrake (Crex crex)
In the north of Scotland it is regarded as a blessed animal. It is believed not to leave the country, but to remain torpid during the winter. In Ireland the popular opinion is that it becomes a water rail. References to an traonach, as it is called in Irish, can be found in poems and […]
Bird stories, Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
In Greek folklore fables the cormorant was once a wool-merchant. He entered into a partnership with the bramble and the bat, and they freighted a large ship with wool. She was wrecked and the firm became bankrupt. Since that disaster the bat skulks about until midnight to avoid his creditors, the cormorant is forever diving […]
Bird stories, Common Piping-guan (Pipile pipile)
The common piping-guan (yura pahua) is said to lead its chicks through patches of the herb known as pahua yuyu in the early morning. In this way, the chicks will bathe in the dew accumulated on the leaves of this Ventura notes that when the piping-guans plant; this, it is believed, will make them grow […]
Bird stories, Common Buttonquail (Turnix sylvatica)
A fowler once caught a Quail. The Quail said, I know four things that will be useful for you to know. What are they? asked the Fowler. Well, said the Quail, I don’t mind telling you three of them now. The first is : Fast caught, fast keep; never let a thing go when once […]
Bird stories, Common Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus)
Mbuti boys in the Congo under initiation are prohibited from eating most birds, except some common birds as greenbuls and weavers. These prohibited birds are also regarded as kuweri. By imposing such food restrictions on the initiates, the Mbuti conceptualize circumcision as a social birth of an adult. The birds play another special role in […]
Bird stories, Clay-colored Robin (Turdus grayi)
The song of the k’ok’ota’, or Clay-colored Robin (Turdus grayi) when heard in the morning is a sign that the milpa (corn field) is flowering. However, if it is sitting in a tree when it sings, it means rain is forthcoming. The Q’eqchi’ of Belize have a similar tradition for the Clay-colored Robin, or k’ook’ob, […]
Bird stories, Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus)
The Buryat people of Siberia say that the gods first brought the vulture to the world for a very specific purpose. After the deities had created the first people, they sent a vulture to protect them from any harm that might befall them at the hands of evil spirits. But the people didn’t know of […]
Bird stories, Himalayan Vulture (Gyps himalayensis)
An old and very odd legend of the Kirghiz tells of the treasures that awaited those who plundered a Himalayan Griffon nest. It was said that after an appropriate period of incubation, the Griffon’s egg hatches – and an axe emerges from the shell. Not just any axe; an axe that can cleave anything on […]