Amazing ideas and practices will be found described in succeeding chapters of this collection of traditional bird lore, a review of the steps by which mankind advanced with very uneven speed—a large body of it having yet hardly begun the progress, even among the "civilized"—from the crudest animism to a clearer and clearer comprehension of "natural law in the physical world," mankind gives full credence to fictions that the most superficial examination, or the simplest reasoning, would show were false, and trembled before the most imaginary of alarms. From the teachings of religious and political leaders who had much to gain by conserving the ignorance and faith of their followers to the fruitful influence of story-tellers and poets who utilized ancient legends and beliefs for literary advantage, fable and folklore, superstition and error, have survived to our day, and much of it involves lovely legends of birds.
