Happy Halloween!

I solemnly swear, that I am up to no good! As a Halloween gift I picked to draw the Augurey, which is in my opinion an appropriate choice for Halloween, since many wizards believed its cry to be fatal to anyone who hears it.

Augurey (also known as Irish Phoenix)

The Augurey is a native bird of Britain and Ireland, though sometimes found elsewhere in northern Europe. A thin and mournful-looking bird, somewhat like a small and underfed vulture in appearance, the Augurey is greenish black. It is intensely shy, nests in bramble and thorn, eats large insects and fairies, flies only in heavy rain and otherwise remains hidden in its tear-shaped nest.

The Augurey has a distinctive low and throbbing cry, which was once believed to foretell death. Wizards avoided Augurey nests for fear of hearing that heart-rending sound, and more than one wizard is believed to have suffered a heart attack on passing a thicket and hearing an unseen Augureay wail. Patient reasearch eventually revealed, however, that the Augurey merely sings at the approach of rain. The Augurey has since enjoyed a vogue as a home weather forecaster, though many find its almost continual moaning during the winter months difficult to bear. Augurey feathers are useless as quills beacuse they repel ink.

© Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Newton Scamander, p.5, J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury

Mischief Managed!