Some Bird Myths. 171 



of a white pigeon is thought to herald the approach of 

 death. 



There are not a few even of educated persons who, 

 mindful of the old rhymes, would feel more relieved 

 on seeing a second magpie cross their path. The 

 couplet : 



' One for sorrow, two for mirth, 

 Three for a wedding, four for a birth,' 



is familiar to all ; but a variety of consequences is 

 predicted from seeing five or six, and one version even 

 goes up to ten : 



' Five for silver, six for gold, 

 Seven for a secret not to be told, 

 Eight for heaven, nine for hell, 

 And ten for the devil's ain sell.' 



In other days at least, and perhaps the belief may still 

 linger here and there, the storm-tossed sailor felt hope 

 die out within him as he watched, flitting among the 

 white wave-crests of the angry sea, the dark figure of 

 the stormy petrel. For he saw in this little bird 

 which takes its name from Peter's attempt to walk on 

 the water a phantom from the nether world. Ac- 

 cording to one legend, it was the restless ghost of 

 some dead-and-gone sea-captain, condemned for his 

 cruelty to wander thus for ever, like Vanderdecken, 

 over the waste of waters; or, more ominous still, the 

 soul of a d owned mariner wailing over his unconse- 

 crated grave. 



In the ' Metamorphoses ' we are familiar with many 



