PICA MELANOLEUCA. 



481 



thought the sound had stunned the ' mag ;' but he had been 

 only in a brown study, for to the astonishment of all who came 

 to get their beards dressed, it ended in a perfect imitation of all 

 the notes, stops, repetitions, and changes of the trumpets." And 

 recently, an old woman too often went to the public-house for 

 a " hair of the dog that bit her," which was commented on by 

 her neighbours saying, " That old woman is off to the dog 

 again," which a tame magpie picked up ; so, one day as she was 

 passing on her way to the public-house, its master was astonished 

 when it cried out, " Yah ! yah ! What ! off to the dog again 1 

 Yah ! yah !" 



Many superstitious omens were associated with the magpie, 

 as well as being a proverbial tale-bearer. The Spaniards have a 

 proverb, " If you want anything proclaimed openly you have 

 only to repeat it to women and magpies." An old rhyme 

 says — 



" Clash -pyet, clash-pyet, 



Sits on a tree, 

 Dings doon apples — 



Ane, twa, three ; 

 Ane for the leddy, 



Ane for the laird, 

 And ane for the clash-pyet 



That sits in the yaird." 



When at school in my time a tale-bearer was called a " tale- 

 pyet." And as to superstitious omens, in his " Traditionary 

 Sympathies of Rustic Ignorance," Wordsworth says they have 



" A fearful apprehension from the owl 

 Or death-watch ; and as readily rejoice 

 // auspicious magpies cross their ivay." 



And in his " Nursery Rhyme," regarding the number seven, he 

 says : — 



" One's sorrow, two's mirth, 

 Three's a wedding, four's a birth ; 

 Five, heaven ; six, hell ; 

 Seven, the devil's own sel'." 



Nor was it a mere idle superstition, but a religious belief, in 

 England. Mudie says — "If there was an even number and 

 cheerily met, then happy times to the matrons, high hopes to 

 the maids, health and long life to all the family. If near a 

 churchyard, then good health and happiness to the whole parish. 

 But woe to the house if a number were seen with an odd one 

 sitting sulkily apart ; and greater woe to a lover if he or she 



