lies torpid in the stone heaps on his back 

 and with spreading wings. If anyone 

 turns him over, he will never more 

 revive. While the birds that lie in tor- 

 por are finding their sleeping places for 

 the winter time, the more hardy birds 

 prepare for the coming winter. The mer- 

 maid sends out her small gray birds. 

 They come by the thousands over the 

 ocean from the East and feast on the ripe 

 mast. The trees are black and the sun 

 is darkened, so large is their flock. From 

 this probably springs the thought, as 

 the mountain finch in company with 

 the chaffinch ravage the forests. 



The jay begins tO' lay in provisions 

 for the winter. He hides it here and 

 there, in the ground, and in old trees, 

 and in order to find it again, he notices 

 how the clouds stand ; but he cannot find 

 it again, when the clouds have gone. It 

 is therefore very hard for the jay to pull 

 through the winter; but he does much 

 good in the forests, where many a tree 

 has been planted by him. 



Soon the wild geese commence to 

 migrate and: 



When goose goes to sea 



And the badger to his burrow, 



Then the winter conies, not in pace, but in trot. 



The days become shorter, and the 

 farmer now thinks he can spare the one 

 meal. In Jutland they say the wild geese 

 fly away with the forenoon lunch in the 

 fall, and bring it back again in spring. 



Before the time of almanacs, they 

 had the soi-called runic calendars or 

 Rune-staves, on which the days were 

 marked by carved pictures. The 2nd day 

 of November is on a Swedish Rune-stave 

 marked by a swan flying away. When the 

 swans fly away they believe in Sweden 

 that the winter is at the door. "The 

 swan has snow in the tail." 



It is right to look after the flying birds 

 of passage ; a person can also send mes- 

 sages by them to distant countries, but 

 one must never count them. If one 

 counts a flock of swans, he will become 

 insane. It is not allowed to point at 

 them, just as it is not allowed to point 

 at the stars. It is a sin to point, for then 

 the birds will get lost, and the one who 

 does it will get a withered finger. 



No one knows whither the birds of 

 passage fly, but one can get them to take 

 all kinds of diseases along. In Germany 

 they say that if a man has fever and is 

 so lucky as to see a flock of migrating 

 swans, then he only needs to shout : 



The swans and the fever 

 Fly over the wild sea. 

 The swans come back 

 But the fever never more. 



Similar things can be told from the 

 North. In Scania it is said that when a 

 piece of cloth, belonging to a sick per- 

 son, is laid in the nest of the stork before 

 he migrates, then he will, as a rule, take 

 the disease along. 



The birds o-f passage hurry to the 

 warm countries ; everywhere is uneasi- 

 ness and longing; therefore, they say in 

 Germany, that no children shall be 

 weaned while the birds migrate, for then 

 they will never have peace. 



While the birds nesting in Denmark 

 . go farther south, the birds from the far 

 North commence to come to spend the 

 winter in a milder climate. The beauti- 

 ful bullfinch and the motley snow-bird 

 come with frost and snow, and some- 

 times, some one says every seventh year, 

 the waxwing comes in large flocks. Peo- 

 ple are not glad to see him, for as with 

 all rare birds, he indicates hard times, 

 pestilence or war. 



Frants p. Lund. 



