irds and Myths.

    There are many superstitions regarding the birds which have a firm hold upon our minds, and, in country places, especially, the ancient sayings of our ancestors are very slow to die out.
As with most old beliefs, bird superstitions are generally connected with either good or bad luck, and of all birds the magpie holds the chief position as the prophet of weal or woe. Of many rhymes about this handsome bird, the best known is that popular verse..
"One's sorrow, two's mirth,
Three's a wedding, four's a birth,
Five's a christening, six a death,
Seven's heaven and eight hell,
And nine is the devil's own self.
To see a solitary magpie flying to the right is lucky, but quite the reverse if it's flying to the left. The magpie is said to be the only bird which refused to enter the ark, and in many rural parts people spit three times over their shoulder when they see the bird, in order to avert misfortune.
The above rhyme regarding numbers is also applied in most places to all birds of the crow family, with local variations. 

The End,,,,  LC.

he Raven


Throughout all the ages , and in every country, the raven has been closely associated with death, disaster, spells and magic. To the jews it is an unclean bird despite the fact that it was a scout sent out from the ark to view the earth after the deluge. It's croaking was always considered a sigh of evil, and a flight of raven's, Satan. It was a sign of early death to an inmate if it sat and croaked upon a housetop, and this applies also, to that harmless bird,  the yellowhammer, which is credited with having three drops of the devil's blood in it's body, why, no one can tell.
On the other hand , the robin, crossbill and swallows are always foretellers and bringers of good luck when they rest or nest upon a housetop.
That a raven must have eggs in march and young ones by Easter or die is a saying based, no doubt, on the fact that after that date there is much less food to be had in the shape of dead ewes and lambs on the hillsides,,but how the story arose that the swan steps in the water as much as possible to hide it's ugly black legs is not so easy to explain.

ing of Birds

The story of how the gold-crested wren, our smallest Irish bird secured both it's crown and it's name "The King of Birds" is good reading. When the contest was being made as to which bird could fly nearest the sun, the ingenious little fellow secreted himself on the eagles back, and when the latter had outstripped all the others and was utterly exhausted, the wren nimbly leapt out and flew  upwards a few yards, and was of course crowned King.
An old and interesting tale of the cormorant, the bat and the bramble were partners in the wool business, but their cargo was lost by the vessel been sunk, and ever since, the cormorant keeps diving in the hope of finding their floundered vessel, the bat only comes out at night in case it meets any of their creditors, and the bramble catches hold of every passing sheep to try and regain their lost stock of wool.
The weird and mournful hoot of the tawny owl is considered a sure portent of evil, and the screech of the barn owl near a house foretells an early death, but unless it be that their notes are heard in the solitudes of night, there is no reason why birds which were dedicated to the goddess of wisdom should have such ominous myths attached to them.
The expression "swan song" is based upon the old erroneous idea that swans always sing before their death. It was quite common a belief that souls departed in the form of a bird, and as swans were never heard to sing during their life, it was thought that they must, therefore, reserve a sweet song for their last moments.
One of the many pretty legends which surrounds the kingfisher is that when Noah opened the doors of the Ark, it flew directly up to the sun, and so obtained dazzling colours which it has retained to this day.
The End,,,,,,,LC.