172 By Leafy Ways. 



instances in which mortals were, according to the poet, 

 transformed into birds. A myth is said to be still 

 prevalent in Denmark to the effect that lapwings 

 represent the spirits of departed old maids, while 

 green sandpipers are the deceased bachelors. These 

 birds haunt the same marshy places, and when the 

 lapwings, sailing slowly through the air, wail in 

 mournful strains, 



' O why wouldn't you ? O why wouldn't you 7 



the sandpipers in clear and ringing tones make 

 answer : 



' Because we dared not, because we dared not,' 



followed by a chorus of mocking laughter from the 

 unrepentant crew. 



In some of the mining districts of the North of 

 England the cry of the golden plover is dreaded as a 

 portent of coming evil. The colliers say that the 

 voices of these birds the wandering spirits of the 

 Jews who assisted at the Crucifixion are always 

 heard before disastrous explosions in the pits ; and 

 the men will even refuse to descend to their work 

 when they have heard, floating down through the 

 darkness, the mournful whistling of a troop of 

 plovers. 



A brighter myth is linked with the humming-bird. 

 In the Aztec mythology humming-birds were the souls 

 of heroes who, having died in defence of the gods, 

 were conducted into the kingdom of the Sun, and 



