This morning I found a fluttering barnswallow against the window trying to get out, I picked him up and helped him out. Then remembered those old wives tales and superstitions so I googled and found this. I thought it was kind of interesting and comical at the same time. There are so many birds around here that I feed and want them to stick around.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Oudc1sjV6cgC&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=when+wild+birds+go+into+homes+superstitions&source=bl&ots=GqrJakqtVw&sig=N3-LQMJjkJyqk4giXjPD5JGgHUE&hl=en&ei=twADSv3VPIqUswO1mLWAAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PPA60,M1
Barnswallow inside the Livingroom
They were a rather morbid people back then, huh?
I'm hoping these are only myths! I'm always happy when I see my birds enjoying the sun on my roof. It tells me that they're enjoying their stay here.
Yes, there have been times that it creeps into my mind....lol There have been two timesI haven't been able to help the humming birds that come inside, we have very high ceilings and skylights and they go straight up there and we can't get to them, not even with the tallest ladders we have so we have to wait till they get so tired they collapse. I hate when that happens.
Boy if all that was true I wouldn't be sitting here typing this!! LOL
Glad you could rescue the barnswallow, Gourd. I had to laugh at that link. That reminds me of this dream book my grandma gave me that I ended up calling "The Book of Death," cause the interpretation for 80% or more of the dreams meant someone was going to die, LOL. I guess it's true because everyone is going to die... EVENTUALLY, lol. That book was so ridiculous that it wasn't even morbid, just funny. "If you dream of puppies & kittens & balloons & rainbows - you're going to die." LOL. "If you dream of a dolphin, happily frolicking in the ocean - you're going to die." Etc. LOL.
~Kristy
lol.. its true, several of those interpretations are all about death.. the Death Book, lol..
Are you sure it wasn't a Chimney Swift? Do you have a fireplace with a damper it could get through? Might want to put some screen over your chimney before they nest in there if that is the case.
It was a male barn swallow with the dark brown chest and bottom of his chin.. those chimney swift tails look like the barn swallow tails, dont' they? I'll tell you, he had the most jet black feathers I've ever seen, almost blue on his wings, just gorgeous. He was probably really scared.. He stayed on top of the antennae on the roof for a good while after I took him out, like he was accessing the situation or getting over the shock..
;)
so did you "spit on the floor, draw a circkle around the spit, walk around the corcle ( with your back to it) then spit again" per the instructions "to ward it off"?
Some of the superstitions people REALLY believe in are strange!!
Scarey thought.
This message was edited Mar 31, 2010 9:18 AM
Double post
This message was edited Mar 31, 2010 9:19 AM
Of the 20 individuals executed at Salem, 19 were hanged, one crushed by stone while trying to extract a confession. "Wiches" being burned at the stake was more of a European action.
(Several more died in prison.)
Hooray for the Age of Reason, that allows us to enjoy lovely birds that randomly perch near a house, without the fear of imminant death!