STORK— SWALLOW 337 



STORK. — CoiTj corra-bhan. 

 Black or white stork. 



From "sta," to stand, lit. the tall stander. 



This bird is very rare, but has been shot in Shetland, and 

 elsewhere in Scotland. 



SWALLOW. — Ailleag, aimhleag, ainleag, ainleag-mhara or 

 mhor-dhubh (sea or black martin — petrel), ainleag-mhonaidh 

 (Alpine swift), ainlinn, amhlag, amblag-mhara ; Bruilin (Ir.) ; 

 Fainleag, fainleog, faireag, fairleag, famhlach, famhlag, fandli, 

 faulag, faunal (Old Ir.) ; Gabhlachan, gabhlan-gaoithe (Ir.), gealbh- 

 roc (sea), gobhlan-gainmhich (sand-martin) gobhlachan, gobhlan- 

 gaoithe ; Stearnall, steirneal (sea). 



Arrondell ; Bank martin or swallow, brown dove, bucharet ; 

 Chelidon, chelin (A. S.), chimney swallow, chitterling ; Easing, 

 easing-bird ; Gluck ; Martin; Progne ; Red-fronted swallow; 

 Screamer, screech-devil, swalewe, swalwe, swealewe, swift ; Team, 

 tern (sea) ; white-rumped swallow, witch-hag. 



Said to be from Teutonic "swalwa," tosser about, mover to and 

 fro. The old Irish word "fannal" has for its genitive "faindle," 

 sometimes given as a nominative. 



Among Celtic races generally, it is said the reverence and 

 respect with which this bird is regarded proceeds or arises from 

 fear, and its influence upon mankind, instead of being propitious, 

 is sinister and diabolical. In Ireland it is actually called the 

 "devil's bird." In some parts of Scotland it is indeed said to 

 have a drop of the devil's blood in its veins, from which it gets 

 the name " witch-hag " in Caithness. In the Book of the Dean of 

 Lismore, however, a sentence occurs, comparing a king to a 

 swallow, " Ach righ na Frainca mar e ainlinn 's e breth air an ail." 

 Except the King of France alone, who like a swallow as it grasps 

 the air. In France, accordingly, the swallow is spoken of highly, 

 thought of as a lady, and styled the " Messenger of Life." Among 

 our migratory birds it is thought to be among the first we may 

 look for, a peculiarity in the Roman Calendar being a special and 

 solitary reference to the item of natural history that the swallow 

 appears on 24th February. This is thought somewhat premature. 

 (See Longfellow's poem of " Evangeline," beginning " Oft in the 

 barns," etc., as to the swallow stone, said to possess wondrous pro- 

 perties, restoring sight to the blind, etc.) It is thought a lucky 

 omen to a house when a swallow builds its nest in the corner of 

 one or more of its windows, but it is death — or some calamity — to 

 one tearing or breaking them down, and that within a twelvemonth. 

 Cameron, in his Gaelic names for plants, tells us that the celandine 

 is a corruption of " chelidon," the Greek for swallow, now Angli- 

 cised, and is called " lacha cheann-ruadh " in Irish, or the red- 

 headed duck. Swallow wort in Welsh is "llysie y wennel." 



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