At the or 'cuthag' (coo-ak) for the cuckoo, or 'fltheach' 



5!?££J? f (f ee ' ak ) for the rave »- It is said that the 

 the Moon. , . ., ^ , . . 



longest poem on the Owl in any language is 



in Gaelic. The Or an na Comhachaig or Song 

 of the Owl was composed by an aged Highland 

 bard named Donald Finlay somewhere about 

 three hundred years ago — about 1590 says one 

 local account, though I do not know on what 

 authority : a rinn Domhnull Mac Fhionnlaidh 

 nan Dan, sealgair 'us bard ainmeil Abrach, 

 mu thiomchioll 1590 (done by Donald Finlay 

 of the Songs, the celebrated Lochaber hunts- 

 man and poet, in or about 1590). I have again 

 and again heard the second of its sixty-seven — 

 in another version seventy — quatrains quoted 

 in support of the theory that an owl lives at 

 least a hundred years ; some are credited with 

 far greater age : 



" 'S co-aoise mise do'n daraig, 

 Bha nafhaillain ann sa choinnich, 

 'S ioma linn a chuir mi romham, 

 'S gur mi comhachag bhochd na sroine." 



(I am old as the oak . . . lit. 'the ancient- 

 ness upon me is that of the oak ' . . . whose 

 mossy roots spread wide : many a race have 

 I seen come and go : and still I am the lonely 

 owl of Srona.) 



In every country the owl is a bird of 



206 



