MACKEREL MAGPIE . 151 



MAGPIE [No. 6]. From Mag, a diminutive of Margaret, 

 and Fr. Pie, a Magpie. Found in Barlow's plates (1655) 

 as " Magpye." Occurs in Merrett and also Willughby 

 as Magpie ; Albin spells it " Magpy," and Rutty " Magpye." 

 The folk-lore of our islands is tolerably rich in allusions 

 to the Magpie, as are also the still, or recently, existing 

 evidences of totemism or animal- worship. Keary (" Outlines 

 of Primitive Belief") says that in Ireland a Magpie tapping 

 at the window is taken as a death-warning ; also that 

 it is unlucky to kill one of these birds ; the latter belief 

 is also met with in north-east Scotland (Gregor). Gray 

 mentions a Dunbar bailie who was in the habit of turning 

 back home if he encountered a pair of Magpies on setting 

 out. Harland and Wilkinson (" Lancashire Folk Lore ") 

 record the belief that it is unlucky to meet a Magpie, and 

 when it is seen the hat is raised in salutation and the cross 

 signed on the breast or made by crossing the thumbs and then 

 spitting over them. Brand (" Popular Antiquities ") makes 

 it accounted unlucky in Lancashire to see two Magpies 

 together. In Devonshire, according to Dyer, the peasant, 

 on seeing a single Magpie, spits over his right shoulder three 

 times to avert ill-luck, repeating the following words : 



Clean birds by sevens, 

 Unclean by twos ; 

 The dove in the heavens 

 Is the one I choose. 



In parts of the North of England it is said to be unlucky to 

 see it cross the path in front of one from left to right, but 

 lucky if from right to left. In the north east of Scotland 

 the sight of one is considered lucky in some villages and 

 unlucky in others (Gregor). 



A belief in the power of the Magpie to transform itself 

 into human form is recorded as among the superstitions of 

 Clunie, Perthshire, until the end of the eighteenth century 

 (Gomme). The first Magpies that migrated to Ireland are 

 said to have landed in south-east Wexford, where the first 

 English settlement also took place, and whence the Magpies 

 have since spread over the island. Smith ("History of 

 Cork ") says it was not known in Ireland seventy years 

 before the time at which he wrote, about 1746. An old Irish 

 saying in this connection is that " Ireland will never be 

 rid of the English while the Magpie remains." Barrett 

 Hamilton (" Zool.," 1891, p. 247) thinks Magpies were .first 

 seen in Ireland about 1676 when " a parcel " landed in 

 Wexford. Moryson in 1617 states that " Ireland hath neither 



