246 RI.ArKRIRD 



Amonpj mucli viLu]»ci'.'iLivc abuse ami untruthful wriliu^ there, 

 to which our readers are referred, the line in Ossian as given by 

 Macpherson, Temora, page 292, rendered " The heart of the aged 

 beats over thee," is said should be, " My heart leaping as a 

 blackbird." 



In Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, notice is taken of a variety of 

 blackbird about Killin with a black bill — may this not have been 

 the female ? 



Like other birds, the blackbird has given names to places. 

 In Ireland, for instance, we have " Coill-nan-Ion," the wood of the 

 blackbirds, now " Kilnalun," near Donegal; the dative of "Ion" is 

 *' lun " ; Lis-da-lon, the field (or garden) of the two blackbirds, now 

 "Leesdalin," near Athlone. Such names might be multiplied 

 indefinitely. In the quotation, " Gair choille loinche," the voice 

 (or call) of the wood (full) of blackbirds, we have " loinche " as 

 the genitive plural of "Ion." Lun dubh, Mac Sinola, blackbird, 

 son of thrush, was the name of a certain Irish champion. The 

 shape of a blackbird's eggs are described in an old Irish tale, 

 where an ill-visaged youth's eyes are described as being " rounder 

 than a blackbird's eggs." 



A reason alleged for the blackbird's beak being yellow, is 

 because it has come down in the world, having been used to 

 richer food or berries than the whortle-berry ; another reason is 

 its having dug its beak into a mass of gold in an enchanted 

 cave. 



A saying holds good to the effect that if the blackbird sings 

 before Christmas (O.S.) she will cry before Candlemas ; when 

 blackbird sings loud and clear, rain follows. A child's rhyme, 

 in imitation of this bird's notes, runs somewhat as follows : 

 " Bun a ghuib, air a ghuib, barr a ghuib, air a ghuib ; eun- 

 dubh air an nead, sheinn an lon-dubh, eun dubh, ho, ho, 

 gradh air na feadagan." 



The blackbird's notes, it will be noted, are more melancholy 

 melodious than those of the mavis ; he is also a much more 

 intimate friend of man, especially in winter. 



The saying "An lon-dubh, an lon-dubh spagach, thug mise 

 dha coille fhasgach fheurach 's thug esan dhomh am monadh 

 dubh fasach " — (The blackbird, the sprawling blackbird ! I 

 gave him a sheltered grassy wood, and he gave me the black, 

 desolate moor) — is supposed by some to refer to either the 

 Roman or Scandinavian invader, or possibly to more modern 

 invaders, say the Saxons, etc. 



The only proverbial saying secured is : — 

 Tri la lomaidh an loin. 



Three days for fleecing the blackbird. (April borrowing 

 days— O.S.) 



BLACKCAP (see Bunting). 



