236 THE ROOK. 



of this, I thougtit, as I had begun Latin, and was therefore 

 a clever chield, that I wadna let the herd run away wi' a' 

 the learning. It was at the time when the alteration in the 

 style had not ceased to cause grief and displeasure to many 

 of the good old people in Scotland, and I knew the herd 

 was a zealous opponent of the change, so I slily asked him, 

 ' Do the Craws count Candlemas by the new or the auld 

 style ? ' He replied, with great indignation — ' D' ye think 

 the Craws care for your Acts of Parliament V'^ 



The " building o' the Craws " is one of those rural 

 events which never fail to attract attention, and it is a 

 popular saying in Berwickshire that 



On the first of March, 

 The Craws begin to search 



for sticks and other materials for their nests. Boys in the 

 county are sometimes puzzled by being asked, " How many 

 sticks gang to the building o' a Craw's nest ? " and seldom 

 give the required answer, which is, "Nane; they're a' carried." 

 The following fragment of an old rhyme is also occasionally 

 heard — 



Some gaed east, and some gaed west, 

 And some gaed to the Craw's nest. 



When children see Crows hastening away in a body, they 

 say, " the schule is skailin'," and if they are noticed sitting 

 thickly on trees in the winter time, it is called " a Craw's 

 preachin'." When they are seen wheeling and hovering 

 round one spot in numbers, old people say it is " a Craw's 

 waddin " — 



A weddin' o' Craws, a weddin' o' Craws, 

 A piper, and a fiddler, and three Jackdaws. 



If they are observed flying high in the air in a flock, and 

 tumbling and diving down, it is considered a sign of wind 



1 Memoir of the Rev. Alexander Waugh, D.D., Loudon, 1830, pp. 390-391. 



