Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 October 1906 — A Quaint Bird Legend. [ARTICLE]

A Quaint Bird Legend.

A medical journal in a recent reference to a work on some old legends in connection with drugs said: “It would be Interesting to know if the bird which the author calls ’aster’ is known to modern ornithologists. Speaking of it, he remarks that its scent is said to be so strong that fishes are drawn by it as he is flying over the river and so taken up by him, having one leg like a hawk, the other like a duck.” It is not difficult, however, to Identify the bird in question. It is the osprey (Pandlon haliaetus), which, although not today classified under the genus astur, is related to it. In the Rev. C. Swainson’s “Folklore of British Birds” there is a reference to it from Shakespeare, "Coriolanus,” act 4, scene 3: Autldlus, loq.— As is the osprey to the fish Who takes it By sovereignty of nature. And in Peele’s play, called “The Battle of Alcazar” (1594), act 2, scene 1: I will provide thee of a princely ospray, That, as she flieth over fish in pools. The fish shall turn their glistering bellies up. And thou shalt take thy liberal choice of *IL —London Notes and Queries.