A bird flying into the house
A bird entering the house is an old warning of news, usually of a death.
Animals superstition
Bird omens
Bird omens: a bird in the house means death; a bird striking a window is a warning. First recorded: Roman augury, formalized by the 4th century BC. That makes it roughly 2,400 years old — the 14th oldest of the 45 superstitions we have dated.
- Earliest record
- 4th century BC Roman augury
- Written down in
- 1867 Harland and Wilkinson, Lancashire
Record: John Harland and T. T. Wilkinson, Lancashire Folk-Lore (London: Frederick Warne, 1867).
When it actually starts
How old is this one
First recorded
Roman augury, formalized by the 4th century BC
That makes it
roughly 2,400 years old
Rank by age
14th oldest of 45 dated here
Category
Animals
Rome had professional augurs who read the flight of birds before public decisions, and magistrates were expected to obey the auspices — Publius Claudius Pulcher famously ignored them before the Battle of Drepana in 249 BC, and lost. Modern bird omens are the domestic remnant of what was once a formal branch of the state.
13 of the dated superstitions here were written down earlier and 31 later.
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Primary source
As it was written down in 1867
“Its appearance singly is still regarded in both these counties by many even of the educated representatives of the last generation, as an evil omen…”
“One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a wedding, And four for a birth.”
John Harland and T. T. Wilkinson, Lancashire Folk-Lore (London: Frederick Warne, 1867) — read the original text.
The best-known form of the magpie rhyme, as printed in 1867; Harland and Wilkinson also give a longer Lancashire version that runs to seven magpies.
The versions people follow
What exactly is believed
Bird droppings on you
Being hit by bird droppings is widely considered good luck, especially in Russia and Italy.
A bird at the window
A bird tapping on a window signals a message or a visitor, and in some traditions a spirit.
Magpies by number
The counting rhyme reads magpies by number: one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy.
How the bad luck is traditionally undone
For a lone magpie, people salute it, say "Good morning, Mr Magpie, how is your wife?", or look for a second one.
Where it lives today
Saluting magpies remains common in Britain and Ireland, and the "lucky" bird dropping is one of the few superstitions used to cheer up the unlucky.
What people say
A bird in the house means death; a bird striking a window is a warning.What is going on
Birds hit windows because glass reflects sky. An estimated 365 million to 988 million birds die that way each year in the United States alone, so the cause is architectural.Where it applies. Widespread, with the meaning varying by species more than by country.
Nearest in age
Bird omens are the 14th oldest of the 45 dated superstitions here. Of those, 3 date from 1900 or later and 14 predate the common era.
First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Bird Omens: Origin, Meaning and When It Began.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/superstitions/bird-omens/
For Wikipedia
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