Bird
.“And by my word, your bonnie bird
In danger shall not tarry;
So, though the waves are raging white,
Iʹll row you oʹer the ferry.”
A bird of ill-omen. A person who is regarded as unlucky; one who is in the habit of bringing ill-news. The ancients thought that some birds indicated good luck, and others evil. Even to the present day many look upon owls, crows, and ravens as unlucky birds; swallows and storks as lucky ones.
Ravens, by their acute sense of smell, discern the savour of dying bodies, and, under the hope of preying on them, light on chimney-tops or flutter about sick rooms; hence the raven indicates death. Owls screech when bad weather is at hand, and as foul weather often precedes sickness, so the owl is looked on as a funeral bird.
A bird of passage. A person who shifts from place to place; a temporary visitant, like a cuckoo, the swallows, starlings, etc.
A jail-bird. (See Jail.)
The bird of Juno. The peacock.
The bird of Washington. The American or baldheaded eagle.
“The well-known bald-headed eagle, sometimes called the Bird of Washington.”—Wood.
The Arabian bird. The phœnix.
The green bird tells everything a person wishes to know. (Cherry and Fairstar.)
The talking bird spoke with a human voice, and could bid all other birds join in concert. (Arabian Nights.)
One beats the bush, and another takes the bird. The workman does the work, the master makes the money.
“Early to bed and early to rise,
