The legend of Leda and the Swan (later immortalized in poetic verse by Yeats) told the tale of the god Zeus assuming the form of a swan, while another myth still enjoying great popularity tells of a man Icarus who fashioned a set of wings like a bird so that he could fly to the sun.
鳥的飛姿優雅、羽毛鮮麗，就像昆蟲中蝴蝶、植物中的花卉，很自然地引起人的好感，變成欣賞的對象，並進入藝術、文學的範疇。