Heavenly Omen

The word auspice, meaning sign or omen, is telescoped from the Latin words avis, bird, and specere, to see. In ancient Rome the appearance and behavior of birds--whether they were eagles, vultures, owls, crows, or ravens, which direction they flew, how they ate grains of corn--determined whether public assemblies should be held, whether armies should attack, whether merchants should be bullish or bearish.

Last week the augurs of Manhattan's Wall and Broad Streets, weary of watching for omens on ticker tapes, turned to their windows to see the propitious flight of a rare and happily named bird--a Bird of Paradise. The brilliant yellow, green, and red-brown bird had escaped from Paramount Aquarium Inc. (a downtown animal, bird and fish importing concern), winged its way over the financial district to 15 Broad Street, was finally captured at high noon.

Next day ticker tapes, to which the augurs had returned, began humming. When the Stock Exchange closed at three, market followers totted up the day's business: turnover, 1,619,800 shares; net gains, 1 to 4 points a share. Day after, many stocks reached a new high for 1938.

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