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Life and Lore of the Bird
Hardback is New. A First Edition published by Rh Publishing in 1988 and contains 250 pages. A revealing book of birds in nature, art, myth . and literature. Dust jacket in Almost Like New .Shelve D-22
250 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 1988
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July 24, 2011
Amazon 1p cool book with lots of details about birds in the 20th and 19th centuries, as well as in Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Babylonian mythology. Good source on the great bird myths, cormorant fishing, falconry, cockfighting, pigeon racing, and a little about domesticated animals. Lots about where some ideas originated, such as shakespeares bits of folklore. Three quotes:
(As I always suspected)
The raven is not always a bird of ill omen. Despite its black plumage and sinister croaking and its feeding on corpses, it fed Elijah in the wilderness; and among the North American Indians it was a culture hero.
(Ancient Falconry)
Falconry has a good claim to being the oldest sport. Even if we question the belief that it was practiced in China as long ago as 2000 B.C., there is a Khorsabas bas-relief in Iran dating from about 1700 BC which appears to depict a falconer with a hawk perched on its wrist. There is little doubt that the sport was knon in China in the seventh century B.C. and not much later in Jaan, India, Persia, and Arabia.
…but…
perhaps because cock-fighting was enjoyed by all classes, it has added more expressions to the English language than has falconry, which in Europe as never a sport of the common man.
(on the superiority of omina oblativa over omina impetravia)
The psychological effect of favourable omens on an army could be important. In the third century BC Agathocles of Syracuse was fighting the Carthaginians with an inferior force composed mainly of Greeks. Before this battle these men were greatly heartened by seeing owls, birds sacred to the goddess Athena, perching on their banners; they defeated the enemy. They did not know that their commander had arranged for the owls to be caught and released at the critical moment. Prognosticians may act the other way and reduce morale. When the Spaniards arrived in Peru in the sixteenth century, it happened that auguries of impending disaster were current. If it had not been for these, which caused the inca emperor to believe defeat inevitable, he would hardly have allowed a handful of invaders into his capital, thereby smoothing the way for his own death and the destruction of the empire.
(As I always suspected)
The raven is not always a bird of ill omen. Despite its black plumage and sinister croaking and its feeding on corpses, it fed Elijah in the wilderness; and among the North American Indians it was a culture hero.
(Ancient Falconry)
Falconry has a good claim to being the oldest sport. Even if we question the belief that it was practiced in China as long ago as 2000 B.C., there is a Khorsabas bas-relief in Iran dating from about 1700 BC which appears to depict a falconer with a hawk perched on its wrist. There is little doubt that the sport was knon in China in the seventh century B.C. and not much later in Jaan, India, Persia, and Arabia.
…but…
perhaps because cock-fighting was enjoyed by all classes, it has added more expressions to the English language than has falconry, which in Europe as never a sport of the common man.
(on the superiority of omina oblativa over omina impetravia)
The psychological effect of favourable omens on an army could be important. In the third century BC Agathocles of Syracuse was fighting the Carthaginians with an inferior force composed mainly of Greeks. Before this battle these men were greatly heartened by seeing owls, birds sacred to the goddess Athena, perching on their banners; they defeated the enemy. They did not know that their commander had arranged for the owls to be caught and released at the critical moment. Prognosticians may act the other way and reduce morale. When the Spaniards arrived in Peru in the sixteenth century, it happened that auguries of impending disaster were current. If it had not been for these, which caused the inca emperor to believe defeat inevitable, he would hardly have allowed a handful of invaders into his capital, thereby smoothing the way for his own death and the destruction of the empire.
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