BIRD SUPERSTITIONS AND WINGED PORTENTS. 



HE superstitions of the peasant 

 folk of any country are not 

 only interesting with thought, 

 " feeling, and belief, says an 

 intelligent writer, but. through them 

 much of the inner history of a people 

 can often be traced. Ireland is 

 peculiarly rich in these forgivable 

 vagaries about birds. They often 

 seem of a very savage and grewsome 

 character, but as we come to know 

 that however grim-visaged the face 

 of one confiding the weird assertion of 

 uncanny belief, that secretly the 

 masses of the peasantry scout and 

 flout them all, save those of a tender 

 and winsome character, we become 

 reconciled to it. Thus the quaint 

 and weird things which might 

 seem unaccountable and often re- 

 pulsive to us, have become, in lieu 

 of book lore, a folk and fireside lore, 

 out of which endless entertainment is 

 secured ; and underneath much of this 

 there is a deep and earnest tenderness, 

 such as all hearts know, for many 

 things without apparent reason, that 

 grow into life and ancestry, oft repeated 

 homeside tale, beloved custom and 

 that mysterious hallowing which comes 

 upon changeless places and objects 

 to men. 



Here are a few bird superstitions : 

 If an Osprey be shot along any coast, 

 all the herring and mackerel will 

 immediately disappear. If the Hen- 

 harrier, which only hunts by twilight, 

 is missed from its accustomed raptorial 

 haunt, some evil spirit is said to be 

 hovering about the locality. When 

 Water-ousels appear in the spring 

 time in unusual numbers in any un- 

 frequented locality, it is a sign of 

 abundance of fresh-water fish, but also 

 a token of the approach of malignant 

 disease. On the west coast in the 

 early spring the poor fisherman watches 

 early and late for the Gannet. He calls 

 it the Solan, or Swift-flying Goose. If 



it does not come his heart sinks, for 

 there will be no luck at fishing ; but 

 if great numbers wheel about the 

 headlands of the coast, plenty will 

 smile in his cabin home that year. 

 Great numbers of Jay or Missel 

 Thrushes feeding upon the berries of 

 the hawthorn betoken the approach of 

 a very cold winter, and their Grackle- 

 like calls bring fear to the heart if the 

 meal be low and the peat be scant in 

 the little tenants cabin. When the 

 nest of the Thrush or Mavis is built 

 unusually high in the thorn-bush, this 

 betokens a great calamity to a neigh- 

 borhood, for some distressing disturb- 

 ance is under way among the fairies, 

 who in happy or friendly mood always 

 see to it that these nests are built near 

 their haunts in the grasses, that they 

 may more readily enjoy the music of 

 the thrush's songs. The crops of 

 sweet singing Blackbirds are supposed 

 to hold the souls of those in purgatory 

 until the judgment day ; and when- 

 ever the Blackbird's notes are partic- 

 ularly shrill, these parched and burn- 

 ing souls are imploring for rain, which 

 never fails of coming in response to 

 the bird cries for their relief. The 

 Wicklow mountains are notably the 

 haunts of the Ring-Ousel or Mountain 

 Stars. Whenever, after singing his 

 fine deep song, he hesitates for a time, 

 and then is heard to utter a loud, 

 shrill and prolonged whistle, that 

 night every human that has heard it will 

 remain behind barred doors ; for that 

 is a true fairy call, and the " wea folk 

 of Wicklow ' ' are sure to congregate 

 in the mooonlit mountain hollows and 

 "dance rings round their swate selves" 

 until dawn. Of course none of these dire 

 calamities ever occur, but the simple- 

 minded folk continue to have faith in 

 them, and the innocent birds remain 

 the supposed precursors of the, to them, 

 mysterious misinterpreted operations 

 of nature. 



172 



