from:  The Mythology of Wise Birds, by H. Colley March, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 27:209-232 (1898, really!)   "WHEN the human race was young...it seems to have been a matter of course that all individual objects, animals, trees...should hold converse...should possess various kinds of knowledge....      ...from the beginning it was birds who spoke to most purpose, whose information was most valued, whose words often conveyed irony as well as wisdom....      ... It is not difficult to advance reasons for a belief in the superhuman wisdom of birds.  Their very aspect is usually one of alertness and intelligence."