Even in Homer we see the dawning of skepticism, a skepticism of which we approve and the sentiment of which we cannot but admire. The next day after the favorable sign of Athene to her favorite, after nine long years of terrible war the Trojans stand at the very edge of the ditch before the Greek ships. Hector their noble leader, a hero who may well inspire modern men to noble deeds of patriotism, stands at their head. One rush more, one impetuous dash through the ditch and against the wall, and the ten years' war may be ended with the weary Trojans victors. But at this critical moment a bird appears, it is the favorite bird in Homer and also the favorite bird with us, for it is our national bird, the Eagle. Homer calls it the bird that is surest to bring fulfillment with its omens and tells us that it belonged to mighty Zeus the thunderer, the ruler of gods and men. The bird appeared flying at the left. The people halted. A bird flying at the left meant disapproval. It held in its mouth a snake not yet dead, which coiling its head, bit at the breast of the bird. The bite was effective, and with a sharp cry, the bird dropped the serpent at the feet of the awe-inspired Trojans and fled shrieking away. Well might the people halt. What was to be done, an onward move against such a portent, or a calm withdrawal when everything was in their favor? One of the common people declared that they must withdraw or death would come upon them. Then noble Hector with frowning brows answered him: "Polydamas, no longer do you speak words pleasing to me. You know how to speak another word better than this. If you speak this truly in earnest, the gods themselves have taken away your senses from you who bid me to forget the counsels of high-thundering Zeus, the promises he made me and the plans to which he nodded assent. You bid me put my trust in long-winged birds which I do not heed or regard at all, whether they fly to the right toward the sun and the dawn, or to the left toward the murky darkness. Let us trust the counselings of great Zeus who holds sway over gods and men. One bird is the best to defend one's fatherland."

In the last book of the Iliad in the sad scenes surrounding the death and burial of this hero we have again an omen. Priam, the aged, feeble man, determined to go to the strange, wrathful Achilles and beg for the body of his dear son Hector, which the swift-footed hero had been mutilating in his wrath, dragging it behind his chariot about the city walls. Priam was determined to go. His wife tried to dissuade him from such a dangerous undertaking, he bade her not to be a bird of ill omen in his halls, but she insisted, and finally persuaded him to pray to Zeus to send him an omen that his journey would be successful. He prayed; thereupon an Eagle appeared flying at his right. Hecuba was now satisfied and the old lord of windy Troy started out on his errand of love. The omen was true this time for he did persuade the heart of Achilles and returned to his city with the remains of his son.

There are other instances of omens given by the presence and flight of birds, but these are sufficient to show us the great importance which the men of two thousand years ago attributed to them. Although birds are most prominent in Homer in this connection, still we find them mentioned many times just as parts of the physical world and without divine import. Among the birds thus mentioned we find names which our scholars have interpreted to designate Cranes, Meadow Larks, Jackdaws, Geese, Swans, Nighthawks, Vultures, and Eagles. Birds are especially noted for their quickness in flight, and the horses were most prized which flew like the birds. Birds were always mentioned in connection with the dead, and a favorite curse was to wish that one might be left a prey to the dogs and birds.

Gods often honored this part of the animal world by assuming their forms. We find Athene and Apollo in the likeness of Vultures settling down upon the Oak tree to watch the battle of the Greeks and Trojans. Sleep watches the wiles of Juno toward her lord while he sits as a Nighthawk upon a tree. But Homer is essentially a poet, and in many places a nature-poet, and in these touches of nature he does not forget the birds, but very often compares the movements of his heroes to them.