Albatross

In the days of the sail, an albatross flying around a ship in mid-ocean was an omen of wind and bad weather. It was very unlucky to kill it
because, like the seagull, it was thought to embody the restless soul of some dead mariner.

Ants

In Cornwall England ants, known locally as Meryons or Muryans, were once thought to be fairies in the last stages of their earthly existence.
Legend said that these elfin creatures were through many gradual transformations, always becoming smaller and smaller, until finally, after living
for some time as Meryons, they disappeared altogether from this world. According to one tradition, the Cornish fairies were once Druids who
refused to accept Christianity and so were condemned to lose their human status. Another tale says unbaptized children took this form after their
death, being safe from Hell because of their innocence, but unable to enter Heaven because they were not christened. In both versions of the
legend, they eventually become Muryans, and hence it was considered very unlucky to destroy an ants' nest. It was also said at one time that if a
piece of tin was put into such a nest when the moon was new, it would turn into silver, provided that it was inserted at a certain fortunate moment
which varied in different parts of the country.

Ants Eggs

Ants eggs were formerly used in magical compounds intended to destroy love. In Topsel's History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpet's (1607), the
following cure for warts and swelling is given: "Reckon how many warts you have, and take so many ants, and bind them up in a thin cloth with a
snail, and bring all to ashes, and mingle them with vinegar. Take off the head of a small ant and bruise the body between your fingers, and anoint
with it any imposthumated tumor, and it will presently sink down."

Bats

Manx people say it is extremely lucky if a bat falls on any person. Many women outside the island would doubt this, because of the very general
belief that if a bat alights or falls on a woman's head, it becomes entangled in her hair and cannot get away until the hair is cut. In Oxfordshire, it
is a death omen if a bat flies three times round a house. When bats come out early in the evening and fly about as though playing, it is a sign of
fine weather to come.

The ghost of her future husband would appear behind her, mowing with a scythe. If nothing happened it meant that she would not marry that year,
or perhaps never at all. If she was destined to die young and unwed, a spectral coffin would be seen following her instead of a man.

Bees

Bees in antiquity were sacred as divine messengers and foretellers of the future, and the Christian tradition they were reverenced as the little
winged servants of God. It was considered sacrilegious to kill a bee because of its holy character. Bees were regarded as the wisest of insects,
having knowledge of the future and many secret matters. It is also believed that they don't like blasphemy and if someone swears in their
presence they will sting you. If a bee comes into your house it is a sign of good luck, or of a stranger coming shortly.

Beetle

A black beetle running across the floor of a room, or found lurking anywhere in the house, is a sign of bad luck. If it crawls over a person's shoe,
or runs over any one lying down, it is a death omen, either for the individual concerned or someone closely connected to them. Some places won't
kill them because it is unlucky. They also were thought to cure whooping-cough by hanging them around their neck.

Birds

Birds were anciently regarded as divine or semi-divine beings. For some early peoples, they were themselves gods, or the High Gods might
manifest themselves in that form. Often they were thought to be agents or messengers of the heavenly powers. Priests and soothsayers of pagan
antiquity studied their flight, cries and actions in order to read the future and discover whether any proposed enterprise would turn out well or ill.

Night birds seen or heard calling by day are usually thought unlucky. Those with pied feathers ar often associated in legend with the Devil, and
black or white ones with death and misfortune.

There is a widespread belief in England that if a young, but fully-fledged, wild bird is caught and kept in captivity, its parents will kill it by feeding it
through the bars of the cage with poisonous food. Ordinary cage-birds were once believed to be in close sympathy with the family that owned
them. It was necessary to tell them of a death in the house and put mourning ribbons on the cage, otherwise they would pin away and die. In
Scotland, if a cage bird belonging to the bride or the groom dies on the wedding morning, it is a very bad omen for the success of the marriage.

Hens

A hen which crows, or one with feathers like those of a cock, is usually considered to be very unlucky. In some areas, the appearance of such a
bird in the poultry-yard is said to be a death omen for someone in the farmer's family, and almost everywhere, it is a sign of evil. On most farms
such a bird would be killed immediately. If hens go to roost at an unusual time, particularly during the forenoon, it foretells a death in the
household, often the farmer himself.

In Wales, at one time, it was customary to give the hens a share of all the fruit in the house on New Year's Day. This was supposed to make
them lay well during the coming twelve months. In Silesia, the peasant there took corn to church on Christmas Day and kept it by them during the
service, and it was deemed to be sanctified by the words of the service, and was afterwards given to the poultry to eat in order to preserve them
from evil throughout the year.

Animals