Note 519 — Chapter V · THE DEMONOLOGY OF GHOSTS AND SPRITES AND BOGEYS.
Reading edition
Anton. Lib. I. I owe this reference to Prof. Sam. Wide, A. Mitt. XXVI. 1901, 2, p. 155. At the miracle plays it was a custom to let a bird fly when a person died—a crow for the impenitent thief and a white dove for the penitent one. See Mr Hugh Stewart, Boethius, p. 187.