The duck is regarded as a blessed and good-natured weather forecaster! As with other birds in Irish folklore, they were often associated with the "otherworld". It was considered wrong to hunt ducks and other birds at night as they were regarded as embodying human souls traveling by night to the spirit world. Ducks eggs were also a perfect place to store the souls of giants and witches in folklore and in one Irish story the hero is tasked with defeating the fairy queen by finding and destroying such an egg.