Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/328

 subject is that of Michael Psellus, written in the eleventh century; but probably ancient works on the subject, such as that of Telegonus to which Suidas refers, were then extant and contributed the bulk of his information. But even so it is the broad principles rather than the detailed application of them which Psellus presents, and on them we must in the main rely in comparing the modern science with the ancient.

First of all the species of bird under observation had to be ascertained; for the characters of different species were held to be so various that birds as closely cognate as the raven and the crow employed wholly contrary methods of communication with mankind. 'If as we go out of our house to work,' says Psellus, 'we hear the cry of a raven behind or of a crow in front, it forebodes anxieties and difficulties in our business, while if a crow fly past and caw on the left or a raven do likewise on the other side, it gives hope and confidence.' The crow then was not subject even to the rule concerning right and left which applied, so far as I know, to all other birds, but, thanks to some innate contrariety, reversed the normal significance of position, and therewith also of cry and of flight. Such exceptions even to the most general rules made the accurate identification of species an indispensable preliminary to successful augury. The same primary condition still holds. The diviner must be able to distinguish the cawing of a crow settled on his roof from that of a jackdaw; the former is an omen of death, as perhaps it was in Hesiod's day, to some member of his family, the latter heralds the coming of a letter from a friend abroad. Again he must be able to distinguish the brown owl ([Greek: koukoubagia]) from the tawny owl ([Greek: charopouli] ; the message of the former may be good or bad, as we shall see, according to its actions, while the latter brings only presages of woe.

The species having been identified, there remained, according to Psellus, four possible points in the behaviour of the bird itself (all of them liable to be modified in significance by the position of].]is seemingly onomatopoeic, suggesting the hooting of the owl, but is generally reserved to the brown owl.]