THE BLACKBIRD. 37 



so-called " wilde and savage Irishe," that we find the bard 

 Benean commands the kings of Ulster, A, D* 400, 



" To listen to the birds of the valley 



Of Lough Saillach (Swilly), the noble melodies." 



In the will of Cathair Mor, one of his sons is mentioned in 

 a manner difficult to understand : 



" Criomthan, my boyish hero, 

 He is like a lock on the blackbirds of the meadow."* ! 



Among the many relics of antiquity of the Seven Churches 

 was the figure of a man having a bird on his outstretched 

 hand. Nothing was known respecting it until the following 

 story was extracted from a dubious tradition : "St. Kevin 

 once, whilst praying in a supplicating posture with one hand 

 outstretched, a blackbird descended and dropped her eggs in 

 the palm ; the saint, being compassionate about the bird, 

 never removed his hand until the eggs were hatched !" It 

 must be admitted, nothing can exceed that, not even the mi- 

 racle of Moses at Raphidim. 



Impelled by the truth and beauty of a passage, from the 

 original Irish, of an admired melody, " The Coolin," trans- 

 lated by Hardiman, we are induced to give it. 



Alas ! "tempora mutantur" how can the present equal the 

 past with the following lines before us : 



" Oh, sweeter is her mouth's soft music 



Than the lark or thrush at dawn, 

 Or the blackbird on the green bough singing 

 Farewell to the setting sun." 



That the early Greeks were acquainted with the blackbird 

 is, doubtless, correct, as many of their admired authors have 

 remarked it ; among them Theocritus 



" "When vernal blackbirds through the sprays 

 Shook their shrill notes a thousand ways. ' ' 



Pleasurable as the blackbird's song is, it is not unattended 

 with use, as it is believed when " the mellow blackbird's note 

 is shrill," to be a sure prognostic of rain. 



Subject to variation, the plumage of the 



" Ousel cock, so black of hue, 

 With orange tawny bill," 



is not at all times like that the poet described. So that the 

 * Leabhap na g-Ceapc, The Book of Rights. 



