1092 The Zoologist— February, 1868. 



je 



And that bird is called the crossbill, 



Covered all with blood so clear, 

 In the gnnes of pine it singeth 



Songs, like legends, strange to hear." 



Raven. — The raven was sacred to Thor ; two, named Hugin and 

 Munin (Thought and Memory), sat ever on his shoulders, and were 

 sent daily to spy the times and bring news to their lord. (Simrock, 

 Handb. der Deut. Myth.) Hence the dreaded raven-flag of the 

 Danish Vikings, and hence the bird is still held sacred in Norway and 

 Sweden, where the peasants will hardly kill one. In other lands the 

 raven is generally detested as a bird of evil omen, as Mr. Harting's 

 extracts from Shakspeare sufficiently show (Zool. S. S. 40*5). Marlowe 

 also, in the 'Jew of Malta,' sings of 



" The sad-presaging raven that tolls 



The sick mau's passport in her hollow beak, 



And in the shadow of the silent night 



Doth shake contagion from her sable wings." 



To Mr. Harting's notes I may also refer for an account of tho 

 mysterious nourishment of the young ravens. 



Hooded Crow. — The following popular rhyme celebrates the de- 

 strucliveness of this bird : 



" The gule, the Gordon, and the hoodie craw 

 Are the three warst things that Moray e'er saw." 



The "gule" is a noxious weed, while the raids of the Gordon clan 

 were probably more destructive than either of the other two. Another 

 version substitutes the " water craw " or water ouzel, which was 

 believed to be destructive to salmon -spawn. 



Magpie. — A very old superstition augurs good or evil from the 

 number of magpies seen in company (Halting, Zool. S. S. 471). 

 Singularly enough the deductions are contrary in England and in 

 Scotland. In the former : — 



" One is grief, two is mirth, 

 Three's a marriage, four's a birth." 



But in the * land o' cakes " :— 



" Ane 's joy, twa 's grief, 

 Three's a wedding, four's death." 



In many parts of Northern Europe the magpie is a protected favourite, 

 aud there it lays aside much of the shyness which characterizes it in 



