RAVEN 325 



mountains, before a certain Emperor Barbarossa awakes from a 

 700 years' sleep, and brings back golden days to Germany as it 

 now exists. The eggs of the raven are speckled grey and green, 

 and are twice the size of an ordinary r(jok's egg, and a third 

 larger than a crow's. By the aid of the stone Coinneach odhar 

 discovered as above stated, he prophesied that this bird was to have 

 three days' drinking of the blood of the Mackenzies. The raven 

 has been a soothsayer time out of mind ; the Roman augurs depended 

 greatly on its notes, of which they were said to distinguish sixty- 

 five, the Druids also made a similar distinction. Professor Newton 

 gives the raven the ^r.st place among birds. Highlanders never 

 willingly kill a raven, hence the above mentioned slaughter must 

 have been done by Lowlanders or Englishmen. In a folk-lore tale 

 the raven is supposed to speak, and say by way of warning to a 

 prince, " Cas air a criomagachadh, cas air a gomagachadh, full 's 

 a stocaidh, fuil 's a stocaidh" — A foot bitten, a foot pinched, blood 

 in the stocking, blood in the stocking. People's hair is frequently 

 compared to the raven : in a fifteenth century ballad, for instance, 

 a young girl describes her love, " than raven's hue more dark his 

 hair, redder his cheeks than blood." A " raven's messenger " is 

 applied to one sent on a message, who is slow in returning, or 

 does not return at all, of course this refers to the time of the 

 flood, and the ark incident, as given in Scripture. For the first 

 seven days after hatching, the ravens are said to neglect and 

 forsake their young entirely — they get food " otherwise." Ravens 

 pair for life, repair their old nest in January, lay in February and 

 liatch — or ought to — in March ; they are thought however to be 

 on the decline in numbers in the Highlands, since the immigration 

 of the alien. 



Fitheach was in old times a man's name, so also was its 

 diminutive "fitheachan," for we have MacFhitheachan, son of 

 little raven. Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair gives the name 

 Dughall, Dugald, to the raven. Many places are named from 

 this bird, which are more or less vague, " Nednaveagh," a place 

 in Roscommon, Ireland, standing for Nead na fitheach, the raven's 

 nest. The word ^^baobh" for raven appears in the following 

 verse of a poem which predicted the death of a cruel chief, or 

 petty king, who had killed the only cow of a poor leper. 



" Ro dao (or la) baobh bel-dearg biorach 

 lolach im cenn Fergaile." 

 A red-mouthed sharp-beaked raven 

 Croaked over Fergal's head. 



In Irish mythology, a sort of fairy goddess of war was named 

 Badhbh or Baobh, raven, royston, or carrion crow, as they appeared 

 on battlefields attracted by the dead bodies. They scent carrion 

 afar off. This witch or war-goddess (in Irish Badb) was the wife of 

 Tethra, and is referred to by Whitley Stokes in the second battle 



