At Home with Wild Nature 



"The robin, aye the redbreast 



The robin and the wren, 



If ye take out o' their nest 



Ye'll never thrive again." 

 and : 



"A robin in a cage 



Sets all heaven in a rage." 



I have met farmers who firmly believed that if they 

 were wantonly to slay a robin or a swallow their cows 

 would give blood instead of milk. 



In Essex it is considered very unlucky to kill a 

 robin. I was recently told of an instance of two men 

 bringing down the wrath of the protecting gods upon 

 themselves for deliberately slaying a bird of this species. 

 One had a leg broken andi the other an arm. 



The establishment of a new rookery round one's 

 house is considered a harbinger of good luck, just as the 

 forsaking of an old one by its inhabitants is accepted as 

 an omen of evil. 



There is perhaps no greater confusion in the popular 

 mind, so far as ornithology is concerned, than that 

 between rooks and crows. Although the two species 

 differ in voice, habits, and at close quarters in appear- 

 ance, every black bird about the size of a rook is un- 

 hesitatingly pronounced a " crow." A few years ago a 

 little girl of my acquaintance informed me that her 

 governess had told her a rook was a young crow, and 

 added naively : " I didn't like to correct her for fear I 

 might hurt her feelings." 



In the Highlands of Scotland even educated people 

 appear to have a dread of the bad luck a raven is likely 



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