CROW 257 



Ir.) ; Rook, royston crow, royston Dick, ruik ; Scald (or scall) crow, 

 scalte-crow, scaulte-crouw, Scremerston crow. 



The etymology is said to be from '' Gar," to call ; while 

 "rook" is from " rocas," "roc," signifying to crow hoarsely ; also 

 supposed from Su. Gothic or Ancient Swedish, "Kraka." The 

 Irish term, "duben," is just dubh eun, black, dark or sombre 

 bird ; "loc-fiach" (Lochd-fitheach), the evil or mischievous crow — 

 the royston crow ; elsewhere (Book of Lecan) it is translated 

 "crow-talk." The word "macha" seems given to the bird 

 individually and collectively; also, strange to say, it is used as 

 the name for a milking-place, probably from " magh," a field or 

 plain. The royston crow in Irish is badh, etc., baobh, a wizard, 

 etc.; though now signifying differently, it also signifies "rage," 

 fury, or violence, even lunacy, and in this sense the word 

 ultimately came to be applied to a wild fairy or goddess, repre- 

 sented by the scare-scald or royston crow, which was said to rule 

 over carnage and battlefields, which were styled " Macha's fruit- 

 crop." In the Isle of Skye, the word "baobh" is applied to a 

 mischievous fool. Joyce, in his place-names, gives several deriva- 

 tions from this word badh or hav — names derived from it being 

 Bovan or Bavan, badhadh-dhun ; Badhbha is the name of an island 

 mentioned in the Four Masters, now called " Innis Badhbhan," 

 the island of Badhbh — see Joyce, Here, as elsewhere, names of 

 places are hardly recognisable, so miserable is the state of 

 corruption to which those ignorant of their country's language 

 have reduced the pronunciation — " Knocknaveenie," for instance, 

 is hardly recognisable as meaning " Cnoc na feannaig." The rook 

 has been named " frugilegus," or corn-gatherer ; while " Ket-craw " 

 is from " Ket," filth, etc. ; and " Lethy-craw " from " Lethy," nasty, 

 filthy. 



The hoodie-crow says in Gaelic "Gorach, gorach," silly, silly; 

 but the crow is said to have twenty-seven different cries, each 

 distinctly referable to a different action ; " Feannag Hath na gnad- 

 ranaich," the chattering or croaking of the royston crow, or, the 

 royston crow of the nasty crying or croaking. So when a " Mol- 

 macha," or flock of crows, is about, the confusion of sounds is 

 striking. Crows, or rather rooks, are said to begin nesting on the 

 first Sabbath of March ; but this from experience does not hold 

 good ; certainly they begin very soon after the first of March, N. S. 

 At Glengarry, from Whitsunday 1837 to Whitsunday 1840, no less 

 than 1431 hooded or carrion crows were destroyed; but this does 

 not come near the slaughter for one year in Norway and Sweden, 

 when more than 125,000 crowds and magpies fell victims to the 

 mistaken zeal of the State. The ashes of a burnt crow are said 

 to be a good cure for gout, etc. ; how taken, unless in a potion, it 

 is not said. The chough, or red-legged crow, is now almost extinct 

 in the Highlands of Scotland. The hooded crow is considered 



