Alectryomancy

Alectryomancy (also called alectoromancy or alectromancy; derivation comes from the Greek words ἀλεκτρυών alectryon and μαντεία manteia, which mean rooster and divination respectively) is a form of divination in which the diviner observes a bird, several birds, or most preferably a white rooster or cockerel pecking at grain (such as wheat) that the diviner has scattered on the ground. It was the responsibility of the pullularius to feed and keep the birds used. The observer may place grain in the shape of letters and thus discern a divinatory revelation by noting which letters the birds peck at, or the diviner may just interpret the pattern left by the birds' pecking in randomly scattered grain.