122 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



vant of the Virgin Mary, who had purloined one of her 

 mistress's dresses, was converted into a lapwing and con- 

 demned forever to cry "Tyvit, tyvit!" (I stole it). The 

 source of the anecdote is not given, nor the language of 

 the one who interprets it, but it reminds one of Tenny- 

 son's. 



With a lengthened loud halloo, 

 Tuwhoo, tuwhit, tuwhit, tuwhoo-o-o. 



The Greeks, according to Andrew Lang, had a similar 

 legend of feminine impiety, by which they mystically ex- 

 plained the origin of owls and bats. 



The prevalence of a belief in such transformations as 

 these by Jesus is very widespread; the traditions vary 

 somewhat, as we have seen, in different countries, but it is 

 evident that the root is in the primitive notion that such 

 miracles were not only possible, but natural. Rather 

 more remote and obscure is the connection of birds with 

 certain other religious feasts, such as the substitution of 

 turkey for boar's-head as the central dish for the Christ- 

 mas dinner among the English Dissenters, attributed to 

 the fact that turkeys became common about the time of 

 the Reformation, and acquired a meritorious character 

 on that account among those who wanted to continue the 

 Christmas feast without the taint of a dish partaking of 

 the customs of the hated Papists. Is our New England 

 custom of a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Day trace- 

 able to this, remembering that the Puritans paid little or 

 no heed to Christmas ? 



For centuries, and until comparatively recent times, 

 among the sports and jollifications recalling the Roman 

 carnival (at the same date) that marked Shrove Tuesday, 

 the last day before Lent, both in Britain and in France, 



