n-spirit. The hare is not killed in certain
districts, but occasionally it is ceremonially hunted and slain
annually, while at yearly fairs the goose is sold exclusively and
eaten.[745] Elsewhere, e.g. in Devon, a ram or lamb is ceremonially
slain and eaten, the eating being believed to confer luck.[746] The
ill-luck supposed to follow the killing of certain animals may also be
reminiscent of totemic tabus. Fish were not eaten by the Pictish Meatae
and Caledonii, and a dislike of eating certain fresh-water fish was
observed among certain eighteenth century Highlanders.[747] It has been
already seen that certain fish living in sacred wells were tabu, and
were believed to give oracles. Heron's flesh was disliked in Ireland,
and it was considered unlucky to kill a swan in the Hebrides.[748] Fatal
results following upon the killing or eating of an animal with which the
eater was connected by name or descent are found in the Irish sagas.
Conaire was son of a woman and a bird which could take human shape, and
it was forbidden to him to hunt birds. On one occasion he did so, and
for this as well as the breaking of other tabus, he lost his life.[749]
It was tabu to Cuchulainn, "the hound of Culann," to eat dog's flesh,
and, having been persuaded to do this, his strength went from him, and
he perished. Diarmaid, having been forbidden to hunt a boar with which
his life was connected, was induced by Fionn to break this tabu, and in
consequence he lost his life by one of the boar's bristles entering his
foot, or (in a variant) by the boar's killing him. Another instance is
found in a tale of certain men transformed to badgers. They were slain
by Cormac, and brought to his father Tadg to eat. Tadg unaccountably
loathed them, because they were transformed men and his cousins.[750] In
this tale, which may contain the _debris_ of totemic usage, the loathing
arises from the fact that the badgers are men--a common form of myths
explanatory of misunderstood totemic customs, but the old idea of the
relation between a man and his totem is not lost sight of. The other
tales may also be reminiscent of a clan totem tabu, later centred in a
mythic hero. Perhaps the belief in lucky or unlucky animals, or in omens
drawn from their appearance, may be based on old totem beliefs or in
beliefs in the divinity of the animals.

(3) _Sacramental eating of an animal._--The custom of "hunting the
wren," found over the whole Celtic area, is connected with a