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The author discusses the condensation of multiple meanings invested in the phobia animal and the economic aspects of a phobia. The displacement leads to an attenuation of affects: it is, after all, only a symbol. But then the transformation leads to the opposite: the symbol itself becomes invested with the distress and anxiety, and the displacement fails. Perron-Borelli discusses her analytic patient who had a phobia of feathered animals, expressed mostly as a fear of pigeons. Since the court leading to the analyst's office was amply inhabited by pigeons, the situation led to an extensive inclusion of the phobia in the transference neurosis, providing the possibility of studying the phobia through the analytic process. The author emphasizes certain typical aspects of phallic symbolism in the hysterical character structure of this female patient. The "beast with feathers" appeared in its progressive decondensations as a complete phallic imago with multiple meanings. This enabled the author to make some observations on the quite complex feminine phallic organization and on the theory of castration. It provides her with material to evaluate Freud's much criticized phallocentric view of feminine psychosexual development.