Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/268

 256 Animal Superstitions and Totcniisni.

and Bohemia the yellowhammer is killed,^ in Shrop- shire the bat,^ in Pitsligo the small tortoiseshell,^ in Normandy the salamander,"^ in Llanidloes and Northum- berland coloured butterflies,^ in the Pays rouchi tits.^ There is. however, a possibility that this custom points to a belief that these animals are permanently hostile, a view which also seems to manifest itself in the belief that certain animals by their mere presence (not appearance) bring misfortune. Into this question, however, I cannot now enter.

(S) In some cases an animal is killed annually without being subsequently used in magic. At Erfurt the magpie is killed on Good Friday,^ at Bingen the badger at the festival of St. Roschus.^ The robin at Le Charme at Candlemas. 9 Snakes and toads at Ortenau.^"

id) The Torture Form.

It is possible that we should include the baiting of bulls, badgers, bears, cats, ducks, and other animals under the head of sacrifice. ^^

At Venice in the Middle Ages the head of the bull had, as in the Hahnenschlag, to be struck off at one blow. Bull- baiting was practised in Ireland on St. Stephen's day, an important day for sacrifices, as we have already seen. ^^

ie) The Precipice Form. An interesting form of sacrifice, recalling the eastern

' Gregor, 139; Grohmann, No. 518. - Burne, p. 214. ' F. L. R., vii., 43. •* Rolland, iii., 79.

•^ Rolland, ii., 305. ■^ Witzschel, ii., 196. ' Reimann, p. 437. '' Rolland, ii., 264. '" Meyer, p. 94.
 * Mont. Coll., X., 260; Denham Tracts, ii., 325.

" Schlitze, ii., 141, &c.; cf. Jahn, p. 230; Korber, Volkshehisiigitngen, p. 15.

'- Vulpius, Curiositdtcn, ii., 25; /'. L. /., vi., 54, 62.