A Bird Superstition
On the subject of peacocks—a particularly mean form of pilfering has been frequently practised on the outskirts of a famous park where many pheasants have their being. Motorists pull up at the edge of the park, sometimes by the gate, and lure the peacocks by the offer of bananas, a form of food of which the birds are greedy. While the birds are intent on the meal the motorists extract feathers from their tails! Far be it from any chronicler to foster a foolish superstition, but one could almost wish that such pilferers might suffer the ill-luck that is popularly supposed to pursue those who bring peacocks' feathers into the house. Incident- ally, whence does this superstition spring? It is extremely widespread, and its infection is not altogether avoided by persons who are not much subject to the influence of such apprehensions. Some while ago a Norfolk fanner told me a most moving tale of the calamities that had befallen three families to whom in succession a particular peacock had been successively presented. In this report the bird itself, not the extracted feathers, was under suspicion.
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