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”). OPAL turns pale at the approach of poison. 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. 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 Commŏdus Antonius, the emperor, was forboded 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, Even 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.--Alexander Boss, _Arcana Microcosmi_. 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._ PEACOCKS give warning of poison by ruffling their feathers. PERVIZ’S STRING OF PEARLS (_Prince_). When Prince Perviz went on his exploit, he gave his sister, Parizādê, 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”). PIGEONS. It is considered by many a sure sign of death in a house if a white pigeon perches on the chimney. PIGS running about with straws in their mouths give warning of approaching rain. RATS forsaking a ship forebode its wreck, and forsaking a house indicate that it is on the point of falling down. (See “Mice.”) 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. The great battle fought between Beneventum and Apicium, was portended by a skirmish between ravens and kites on the same spot.--Jovianus Pontanus.