232 NAMES OF BIRDS 



This was also a strong point or feature in the soothsajnng 

 sorceries or mysteries of our own ancient Druids, and Solomon 

 was said to be able to understand their language — probably when 

 it was Gaelic. Bums was by no means the only southern Scot 

 who noticed bird nature, as in an old " Glasgow " publication 

 entitled The Cherric and llir Sine, the following quaint lines 

 appear : — 



" About a bank of balmy bews * 

 Where nij^htingalcs their notes renews {sic) 



With gallant goldspinks gay ; 

 The mavise, merle and prognc proud, 

 The lintwhite, lark and laverock loud 



Saluted mirthful Mav. 

 The cushat crouds, the corbie cries. 

 The cuckoo couks, and prattling pyes 



To geek * her they begin. 

 The jargoun of the jankling jays. 

 The craiking craws, the kekiing kays. 



They deav'd rae wi' their din. " 



It is very remarkable, says Dr Clerk, that there is no allusion 

 whatever throughout the whole of Ossian's — or the Ossianic 

 jioems — to the voice of singing birds, with which the woods of 

 the Highlands must have been tuneful in the days of old, as they 

 are now, for " Is fas a chuil as nach goirear," deserted indeed is 

 the corner whence no voice of bird is heard — lit. whence no call — 

 is a proverb of very old standing. Mention is made even in these 

 poems of the hum of the mountain bee (Temora, Duan III.), and 

 the droning dance of the evening fly. In the 7th duan of Temora, 

 the birds of night are startled by the loud sound of Fingal's shield, 

 and the flight of sea-birds is noticed, but no reference is made 

 to lark, thrush, or blackbird — to any bird of song indeed. 

 It is worth noting here that not a single bird of prey has the 

 gift of song, otherwise the bird creation generally — according 

 to tradition, at least in Ireland — at an early period was considered 

 sacred. See the curious legend Einglan, king of the birds, and 

 Mesbuachala, the mother of Conaire mor, king of Ireland. As 

 regards auguries from birds, see the valuable MS. preserved in 

 Trinity College, Dublin, a special tract thereamong being a 

 tract devoted to auguries of birds, especially the raven and wren. 

 In a poem attributed to St Columbcille the following lines, inter 

 alia, occur : — 



** It is not with the sreod our destiny is, 

 Nor with the bird on the top of the twig. 



I adore not the voice of birds.*' 



* This writer aspires to alliteration so much that he does not excel other- 

 wise; — some words are now obscure : " bews " means *' boughs," "geek," to 

 sport with or make fun of ; lark and laverock are the same. 



