till the cry of
the _Nendak_ is heard on his left. He will then break off a twig of
anything growing near, and take it home, and put it in a safe place. But
it may happen that some other omen bird or animal is first to be seen or
heard. In that case he must give the matter up, return, and try his
chance another day.

Thus, sometimes several days pass before he has obtained his first omen.
When he has heard the _Nendak_, he will then listen for the _Katupong_
and the other birds in the necessary order. There are always delays
caused by the wrong birds being heard, and it may be a month or more
before he hears all the necessary cries. When the augur has collected a
twig for each necessary omen bird, he takes these to the land selected
for farming, buries them in the ground, and with a short form of address
to the omen birds and to Pulang Gana--the god of the earth--clears a
small portion of the ground of grass or jungle, and then returns home.
The magic virtues of the birds have been conveyed to the land, and the
work of clearing it for planting may be begun at any time.

The sacred birds can be bad omens as well as good. If heard on the wrong
side, or in the wrong order, the planting on a particular piece of land
must be postponed, or altogether abandoned.

I have mentioned the omens necessary before planting the seed. In a
similar manner, before beginning to build a house, or starting on a war
expedition, or undertaking any new line of action, certain omens are
required, if good fortune is to attend them and the Fates be propitious.

The worst of all omens is to find anywhere on the farm the dead body of
any animal included in the omen list. It infuses a deadly poison into
the whole crop. When such a terrible thing happens, the omen is tested
by killing a pig, and divining from the appearance of its liver directly
after death. If the liver be pronounced to be of good omen, then all is
well, but if not, then all the paddy grown on that ground must be sold
or given away. Other people may eat it, for the omen only affects those
who own the crop.

It is not only to the cry of birds that the Dyaks pay heed. There are
certain animals--the deer, the armadillo, the lizard, the bat, the
python, even the rat, as well as certain insects--which all may give
omens under special circumstances. But these other creatures are
subordinate to the birds, from which alone augury is sought at the
beginning of any important undertaking.