ncy--
Cledonism--Onomancy--Names--Romans toasting their
Mistresses--How Success in War was ascertained--Loss of
Ships' Colours--Importance attached to Regimental
Standards--Consecrated Banners--Flag of the
Prophet--Battle of the Standard--A Highland
Superstition.

Ornithomancy was a popular way of searching into futurity. Mohammed
had holy pigeons, which came to his ears and conversed with him about
things that were to happen. And the Prophet, it will be recollected,
gave an account of a multitude of angels that appeared to him in all
kinds of shapes, some of which were in the form of birds. One of the
angel birds resembled a white cock, so prodigiously large that its
height extended from the first to the second heavens--a distance of
five hundred years' journey, according to the rate we usually travel
on earth. Many Mohammedans will have it that the sacred bird was even
larger than what we have stated. They assert that the fowl's head
reached to the seventh heavens; and in describing him, they say his
wings were decked with carbuncles and pearls, and that he extended his
pinions from the east to the west to a distance proportionate to his
height. This winged creature was represented as the chief angel of the
cocks, and was said to crow so loud every morning that every living
creature, except men and fairies, heard it. Following the example of
this great bird, the smaller cocks, before sunrise, herald that bright
luminary as he speeds to the west.

When the Gauls under Brennus had scaled the Capitol without arousing
even the sentinels or the watch-dogs, the sacred geese, kept in the
court of the temple in honour of Juno, heard the approach of the enemy
and commenced cackling. The patrician, Manlius, struck with the noise,
roused his fellow-soldiers--the Gauls were discovered, attacked, and
driven back. Thenceforth Roman geese were fattened, but not eaten. A
golden image of a goose was made to commemorate their vigilance, and
upon a certain day in every year one was placed in a litter, and
carried in state about the city, while a dog was impaled upon a stake,
to denote the national contempt for that animal. A singular
circumstance happened at Rome about twenty-four hours before Caesar's
death. A little bird was observed to direct its flight towards the
senate-house, consecrated by Pompey, whilst a flock of other birds was
seen to follow in close pursuit, apparently to destroy the