Chapter War of Wartburg to Warning-Givers of W by Brewer's Readers Handbook

In East Anglia spots on the thumb nail are more certain of fulfilment than the others, according to the local doggerel—

Spots on the finger are sure to linger;
Spots on the thumb are sure to come.

(46) Nourgehan’s Bracelet gave warning of poison by a tremulous motion of the stones, which increased as the poison approached nearer and nearer.—Comte de Caylus: Oriental Tales (“The Four Talismans”).

(47) Opal turns pale at the approach of poison.

(48) Owls. The screeching of an owl forebodes calamity, sickness, or death. On one occasion an owl strayed into the Capitol, and the Romans, to avert the evil, underwent a formal lustration.

The Roman senate, when within
The city walls an owl was seen,
Did cause their clergy with lustrations…
The round-faced prodigy t’avert.
   —S. Butler: Hudibras, II. iii. 707 (1664).

The death of Augustus was presaged by an owl singing [screeching] upon the top of the Curia.—Xiphilinus: Abridgment of Dion Cassius.

The death of Commodus Antonius, the emperor, was foreboded by an owl sitting on the top of his chamber at Lanuvium.—Julius Obsequens: Prodigies, 85.

The murder of Julius Cæsar was presaged by the screeching of owls.

The bird of night did sit,
E’en at noonday, upon the market-place,
Hooting and shrieking.
   —Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar, act i. sc. 3 (1607).

The death of Valentinian was presaged by an owl, which perched on the top of a house where he used to bathe.—Al. Ross: Arcana Microcosmi (appendix, 218).

Antony was warned of his defeat in the battle of Actium by an owl flying into the temple of Concord.—Xiphilinus: Abridgment of Dion Cassius.

The great plague of Würtzburg, in Franconia, in 1542, was foreboded by the screeching of an owl.

Alexander Ross says, “About twenty years ago I did observe that, in the house where I lodged, an owl groaning in the window presaged the death of two eminent persons, who died there shortly after.”—Arcana Microcosmi.

(49) Peacocks give warning of poison by ruffling their feathers.

(50) Perviz’s String of Pearls (Prince). W hen prince Perviz went on his exploit, he gave his sister Parizadê a string of pearls, saying, “So long as these pearls move readily on the string, you may feel assured that I am alive and well; but if they stick fast, they will indicate to you that I am dead.”—Arabian Nights (“The Two Sisters”).

(51) Pigeons. It is considered by many a sure sign of death in a house if a white pigeon perches on the chimney.

(52) Pigs running about with straws in their mouths give warning of approaching rain.

(53) Rats forsaking a ship forebodes its wreck; and if they forsake a house it indicates that it is on the point of falling down. (See “Mice.”)

(54) Ravens. The raven is said to be the most prophetic of “inspired birds.” It bodes both private and public calamities. “To have the foresight of a raven” is a proverbial expression.