Lammermuir to east of Ballantrae, will ' ken The Tribe 

 a wheen strange tales o' the whaup,' as the of the 

 curlew is commonly called north of the Tweed over * 

 and south of the Highland Line : and in some 

 parts it is not only the children who shudder 

 at its cry in lonely places at dusk, fearing ' the 

 bogle wi 1 the lang neb ' like a pair of tongs, 

 emissary of the Evil One, who gave this bird 

 his long curved beak so that in the dark he 

 might, like tongs lifting a stray coal or a 

 nightjar snatching a wandering moth, carry 

 off wrongdoers, unrepentant sinners, truants, 

 and all naughty children generally. As for 

 the lapwing, though more familiar than the 

 curlew, and for many of us associated only 

 with pastures and pleasant wilds, in the 

 countries of the Gael dark things are whispered 

 of the Adharcan-luachrach, or Little Horn of 

 the Rushes . . . thus poetically called from 

 the pretty tuft of the male weep or peaseweep, 

 curving like a horn over the delicately poised 

 head, and from the bird's fondness for nesting 

 in rushy places or among tangled grasses. Is 

 he not said to be one of the bitter clan who 

 mocked on the day of the Crucifixion, and so 

 was made homeless for ever, with a cry that 

 should be for ever like the cry of wandering 

 sorrow ? It is of little avail to say that love 

 among the rushes is as sweet as elsewhere, 



103 



