The owls, who can’t see during the day, and the crows, who can’t see during the night, were foes. So the owls said to the crows, We don’t want the sun as you do ; we can do without him ; we can see in the dark. The crows said, We don’t believe you can […]
Tag: europe
Bird stories, the Turtle-Dove
In Swabia doves are much kept, from a belief that they are more predisposed than mankind to rheumatism, and that when this complaint visits a house, it attacks the birds rather than their owners. Mahomet had a dove he used to feed with seed out of his ear, which dove, when it was hungry, lighted […]
The White Stork and the bring baby story
According to European folklore, the stork is responsible for bringing babies to new parents. The legend is very ancient, but was popularised by a 19th century Hans Christian Andersen story called The Storks. German folklore held that storks found babies in caves or marshes and brought them to households in a basket on their backs […]
The court of Crows
According to Landt, a Danish writer, crows are singularly troublesome in the Feroe Islands, deriving great part of their subsistence from plunder. Not content with picking seed from the field, they dig up the newly planted potatoes, destroy the barley before it is ripe, cut off the cabbage roots, and those of almost every other […]
A Murderer Detected through Ravens
A gentleman who had been robbed by his servant forgave him on condition that he would promise to abandon his bad habits. This promise he so far kept, and conducted himself so steadily as to accumulate enough money to enable him to marry, and to keep an inn on a much frequented road. About twenty […]
The Skylark is capable of moving its eggs to safety
Intelligence of the Lark. It is stated in ” Wood’s Natural History ” that a pair of larks had built their nest in a grass field, where they hatched a brood of young. Very soon after, the young birds were out of their nest, the owner of the field was forced to set his mowers […]
The Eagle in science lore, did it catch children ?
The Eagle and the Goose. An eagle was observed frequently to dart towards the Missouri, and then to rise again. His evolutions attracting attention, it was observed that he was endeavouring to take a wild goose, which had alighted in the river, and which dived to avoid him ; but, on rising to get breath, […]
The Whooper Swan in science lore
According to Bewick these birds, on the approach of frosty weather, associate in large flocks, and, thus united, use every effort to prevent the water from freezing : this they accomplish by the continual stir kept up among them: and by constantly dashing it with their extended wings, they are enabled to remain, as long […]
How the Kingfisher came to be, Ceyx and Halcyon
Ceyx was king of Thessaly and was son of Hesperus (Helios), the Day-star, and the glow of his beauty reminded one of his father. Halcyone, the daughter of Aeolus, was his wife, and devotedly attached to him. Now Ceyx was in deep affliction for the loss of his brother. He thought best, therefore, to make […]
Icelandic folklore about the assa, White-tailed Eagle
The eagle is often seen sitting on the bank of a stream and will remain there sometimes for hours together. It is known that at these times she is watching for a salmon to swim so close to the bank that she can seize him with the talons of one foot while retaining hold of […]