The Augurey, also called the Irish Phoenix, is a wizarding beast in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It is a thin and mournful-looking bird.[1]
About[]
The Augurey looks like a small, thin greenish black vulture and has a mournful appearance. They only fly in the heavy rain which they can predict. They cry before the rain starts. They spend the rest of their time hidden in a tear-shaped nest in bamble and thorns due to its intense shyness. They eat large insects and fairies. Their feathers cannot be used for quills because they repel ink.[1]
The bird has a low and throbbing cry that is very distinctive. The heart-rendering noise was once thought to foretell death so witches and wizards avoided Augurey nests out of fear of hearing their cry. Although wizards are thought to have died of heart attacks while passing a thicket and hearing an Augurey wailing, recent research shows that they only cry when they know rain is approaching.[1]
Chizpurfles are known to infest the feathers of Augureys.[2]
History[]
In the twelfth century, the Wizards' Council first tried to classify non-wizard creatures into a beast or being to integrate them into the process of creating and upholding wizarding laws. Burdock Muldoon considered a being to be a creature that walks on two legs. Augureys reached the criteria and attended his gathering for discussion. However, they did not have the intelligence to partake in serious affairs and spent the gathering moaning. Under the definition later set by Grogan Stump, Porlocks are considered beasts for their inability to understand and shape wizarding laws due to their lack of intelligence.[3]
Due to their ability to sing when they sense the approaching rain, witches and wizards are known to keep them so they can forecast the weather in their home. However, they find it hard to bear in the winter when they have to listen to their continuous whining.[1]
Uric the Oddball slept in a room with his fifty pet Augureys in the medieval age. One winter while it was raining, Uric woke up and after hearing the cry of his Augureys, was convinced that he had died. Believing he was now a ghost, he kept trying to walk through the walls of the house until he developed a ten day concussion. In truth, they were crying for the rain and not death.[1]
Notes and sources[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: An A-Z of Fantastic Beasts (Augurey)
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: An A-Z of Fantastic Beasts (Chizpurfle)
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Introduction (What is a Beast?)