| Warning!
At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. |
The Augurey, also known as the Irish Phoenix, was a thin and mournful looking magical bird, somewhat like a small underfed vulture in appearance, with greenish black feathers and a sharp beak.[1]
Description
Its diet consisted of insects, fairies and flies, which it hunted for in the heavy rain. Intensely shy, the Augurey lived in a tear-shaped nest in thorn and brambles. The cry of the Augurey signalled approaching rainfall.[1]
It was native to Great Britain and Ireland, but it had spread to the rest of Northern Europe. It was long believed that the mournful cry of the Augurey foretold death, and wizards would go to great lengths to avoid Augurey nests. However, research determined that the Augurey merely sings when it is about to rain. Why I Didn't Die When the Augurey Cried, written by Gulliver Pokeby, was published in 1824 by Little Red Books, and dispelled the myth that the cry of the Augurey signalled impending death.[1]
Augurey feathers repelled ink, making them useless as Quill feathers.[1] However, the magical Quill of Acceptance that recorded prospective students for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Book of Admittance was believed to come from an Augurey.[2]
When it was learned that Augureys could foretell the coming of rain, they were used as weather forecasters. However, the continual moaning from them during the winter months was difficult to bear.[1]
History
Uric the Oddball once owned fifty pet Augureys. On one particularly rainy day, they all cried at once, leading Uric to believe that he had died and was now a ghost. This led to him giving himself a concussion by trying to walk through walls.[1]
Jacob Kowalski encountered an Augurey Patrick in 1927, one of several kept in Newt Scamander's apartment.[3][4]
The gloomy, oversized Augurey Hans was the mascot for the Liechtenstein National Quidditch team.[5]
Euphemia Rowle kept an Augurey in a cage while Delphini was growing up; Delphini would later adopt it as her symbol and had a tattoo of an Augurey on the back of her neck. In an alternate reality where Voldemort won, she was known as 'the Augurey'. Making this connection allowed Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy to realise Delphini's duplicity.[6]
Etymology
Augury was the ancient Roman practise of foretelling the future by observing the flight patterns of birds.[7] Today the word more generally means, "a sign of what will happen in the future; an omen."
The Augurey itself is a bird, and thus a play on words. As is the fact that the cry of the Augurey is used to predict rainfall, and was once thought to foreshadow death.
The addition of "-ey" at the end may indicate a portmanteau with the word "grey". Rainwater is grey, the Augurey is a greenish-black, and grey is often shown to be a sad, mournful colour.
Behind the scenes
- Although the Augurey's alternative name is Irish Phoenix, it is never made clear if the species are related.
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
- Pottermore
- Wizarding World
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (As a tattoo)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play) (As a tattoo)
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
- Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
Gallery
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- ↑ Writing by J.K. Rowling: "The Quill of Acceptance and The Book of Admittance" at Wizarding World
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
- ↑ https://twitter.com/FantasticBeasts/status/1027238010520317953
- ↑ Pottermore - Quidditch World Cup 1990 - 2014 (Archived)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Act Three, Scene Sixteen
- ↑
Augury on Wikipedia
| Magical Creatures by classification | |
|---|---|
| X | Flobberworm · Horklump |
| XX | Augurey · Bowtruckle · Chizpurfle · Clabbert · Diricawl · Fairy · Ghoul · Gnome · Grindylow · Imp · Jobberknoll · Mooncalf · Porlock · Puffskein · Ramora · Winged horse |
| XXX | Ashwinder · Billywig · Bundimun · Crup · Doxy · Dugbog · Fire crab · Fwooper · Glumbumble · Hippocampus · Hippogriff · Hodag · Jarvey · Knarl · Kneazle · Leprechaun · Lobalug · Mackled Malaclaw · Moke · Murtlap · Niffler · Nogtail · Pixie · Plimpy · Pogrebin · Red Cap · Salamander · Sea serpent · Shrake · Streeler · Winged horse |
| XXXX | Centaur · Demiguise · Erkling · Erumpent · Golden Snidget · Graphorn · Griffin · Hidebehind · Kappa · Kelpie · Merpeople · Occamy · Phoenix · Re'em · Runespoor · Snallygaster · Sphinx · Tebo · Thestral · Thunderbird · Troll · Unicorn · Winged horse · Yeti |
| XXXXX | Acromantula · Basilisk · Chimaera · Dragon · Horned Serpent · Lethifold · Manticore · Nundu · Quintaped · Wampus cat · Werewolf |
