Habergeiss
The Habergeiss is a nocturnal bird with three legs whose moans and screams announce the death in Austria. Every 5th of January the Habergeiss is represented at the annual Perchtenlauf where the people on the march hit on the legs of the spectator with birch twigs. Habergeiss becomes a horned goat hobby horse with a snapping mouth and it is represented by two men. One man wears the horned mask and the other playing the back quarters of the beast. It jumps about, snapping at people.
John and Caitlin Matthews, The Element Encyclopaedia of Magical Creatures, 2013, Habergeiss, p 223
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