A proof that bright and colored objects were attractive in themselves, and were first gathered up and preserved by primitive man for this reason alone, may be found in the fact that certain birds, notable the _Chlamydera_ of Australia, related to our ravens, after constructing for themselves pretty arbors, strew the floors with variegated pebbles, so arranged as to suggest a mosaic pavement. At the entrance of the arbors are heaped up pieces of bone, shells, feathers, and stones, which have often been brought from a considerable distance, this giving evidence that the birds have not selected these objects at random. It is strange that the attraction exercised upon the sense of sight by anything brilliant and colored, which is at the same time easily portable and can be handled or worn, should be overlooked by those who are disposed to assert that all ornaments of this kind were originally selected and preserved solely or principally because of their supposed talismanic qualities. The theory that colored and brilliant stones were first collected by men because of their beauty rather than because of their talismanic virtues, is corroborated by the statement made that seals select with considerable care the stones they swallow, and observers on the fishing grounds have noted this and believe that pebbles of chalcedony and serpentine found there have been brought by the seals.[9] The popular derivation of the word “amulet” from an Arabic word _hamalât_, signifying something suspended or worn, is not accepted by the best Arabic scholars, and it seems probable that the name is of Latin origin, in spite of the fact that no very satisfactory etymology can be given. Pliny’s use of _amuletum_ shows that with him the word did not always denote an object that was worn on the person, although this later became its meaning. The old etymology given by Varro (118-29 B.C.), who derived _amuletum_ from the verb _amoliri_, “to remove,” “to drive away,” may not be quite in accord with modern philology, but still has something to recommend it as far as the sense goes, for the amulet was certainly believed to hold dangers aloof, or even to remove them. Talisman, however, a word not used in classical times, undoubtedly comes from the Arabic _tilsam_, this being in turn derived from τέλεσμα, used in late Greek to signify an initiation, or an incantation.