ornithomancy
nounEtymology From ornitho- + -mancy.
1
Divination by means of birds, especially from their behaviour, flight, vocalisations, etc.
- This chapter in the great volume of superstition was indeed cultivated with unusual solicitude amongst the Pagans - ornithomancy (or the derivation of omens from the motions of birds) grew into an elaborate science.1840 April, Thomas de Quincey, “Modern Superstition”, in Blackwoods Magazine, page 564, column 2:
- Ornithomancy was a popular way of searching into futurity.1880, James Grant, The Mysteries of all Nations, Leith: Reid & Son, page 380: