HEN 289 



suspicion, and thought to bode ill-luck to the possessor or family, 

 if not speedily disposed of, or pending that, some feathers should 

 be pulled from the tail. It is said to be a bad sign to see hens 

 without a cock in their midst. A hen cackling, after laying, is 

 supposed to say : — 



" Gog gog, gog gog, gog gog, aodh 

 Beiridh mise h-uile latha 

 'S cha bheir a bho laogh." 



Gog gog, etc. I'll lay every day, and the cow won't calve 

 (lay a calf). 



Henbane in Gaelic is '^^ caoch-nan-cearc," that which blinds 

 the hen ; deadly to poultry. 



While a body lies unburied all the hens should be shut up 

 closely in case of one getting into the house, and leaping or 

 flying over the corpse. If such were to happen, the first person 

 such a hen met thereafter would become blind sooner or later. 

 When a farm stocking is sold, the hens should be excepted and 

 given away. Eggs should be set under hens during ebb-tide 

 for heji birds, and during flow for cocks. May is a bad month 

 for hatching, March is preferable. The black cock of the spring 

 — March — is specially lucky, while the red ccck of autumn is the 

 reverse. When hens are seen to preen themselves extra carefully, 

 look out for foul weather. An ancient tax imposed on vassals 

 was called a reek or reik hen, being a hen from every house in 

 which there was a reek or smoke from fire therein — every dwelling- 

 house. In Gaelic a certain fat fowl exacted from sub-tenants 

 was called " cearc-fearain." A henhouse is '^ cearc-lann," a 

 roost " cearc-loch," spar, spardan, or spiris, a hencoop is " cearc- 

 mhanrach," etc. 



The cock commands much attention in mystical lore and 

 otherwise, North and South. Superstitions surround him ; he can 

 hardly move without cause, real or imagined. If he crows in the 

 morning, with his head in at the door, then a stranger will arrive 

 there that day, and it is well for one to be seen the first thing of 

 a morning, looking towards you. Not only is he thus a prophet 

 but a wizard, for in Arran and elsewhere, a superstition is said 

 to exist that an ^gg was laid systematically by a cock, called " ubh 

 maol na feannaig," the smooth (or bald) egg of the raven, whence 

 a creature called a cockatrice was hatched. A cock crowing on 

 his roost shortly before midnight indicates "coming news," and 

 is said or thought to have a "tale to tell," sgeul ri inns' aig a 

 choileach, whereupon it should be caught and his legs felt : if 

 cold, it augured a tale of woe, even of death, if warm, the news 

 would be good. Particular notice should be taken, ere catching 

 the fowl, in which direction he was on the roost or spar, as the 

 news might be expected from the direction the head points. In 

 the Highlands, St Bridget's day, 13th February, was called "la 



T 



