6 SONG THRUSH 
spring and autumn rushes the species is abundantly repre- 
sented. On 20th February 1890 three hundred and forty- 
four dead birds were picked up at the same light, of which 
one hundred and ninety-two were Thrushes. Mr. Crellin 
states (Yn Lioar Manninagh, i. 2, 271): ‘It is, however, 
likely that allied species, and especially the Redwing, are 
not always discriminated from the Song Thrush.’ On the 
Calf of Man we saw in 1901 one or two in the Glen. 
Dr. Wilson saw a nest with three eggs at Ballamenagh, 
Lezayre, on 17th January 1890. (Y. LZ. I, iii. 516.) 
With the folk-renderings of bird-songs* given under the 
heading of ‘ Blackbird’ may be compared the following, first 
supplied me by Mr. J. R. Moore, of Laxey. It is the song 
of the Thrush as heard by the drunken miller of Ballure,” 
who threatens to kill his rebuker :— 
‘Mwyllar Vallure! Mwyllar Vallure ! 
T’eh goll dys Rumsaa 
Dy chooilley Yesarn, 
Goll er y scoor ! 
Goaill foilliu * daa cheayrt ! 
Goaill foilliu daa cheayrt !’ 
1 In Manx fancy the birds formerly sang their songs in Gaelic. 
2 The long-ruined mill of Ballure lies amid the thick foliage of the glen of 
that name, just above where it is now crossed by the high road and electric 
railway on the outskirts of Ramsey. 
3 ¢Foilliu=mulcture, toll given at a mill for grinding’ (Cregeen). The 
expression ‘Goaill foilliu daa cheayrt’ has passed into a proverb, and is now 
applied to any dishonest person. The following story explains the phrase: 
‘There was at one time a miller, who was known as ‘‘ Thom, foilliw three 
keayrt.” Before a sack of corn was allowed to leave his mill, he would say to 
his men: ‘‘ Juan, has thou taken foilliw erf this sack?” ‘‘ Yes,” Juan would 
say. ‘‘Billy, did thou take foilliw?” ‘‘Yes.”’ ‘* Well, I’m thinkin’ I had 
betther take it out me-self, to be sure it’s right." So he was known as ‘‘ Thom, 
foilliu three keayrt.”’ Lowe this note to Miss S. Morrison, of Peel, who gives 
me also the following second version of the song :— 
‘Mwyllar kione top, Mwyllar kione top, 
Mwylar —— goaill rouyr, 
Dowin ayns yn oabbyr !’ 
‘Miller cockscomb, Miller cockscomb, 
Miller , taking too much, 
Deep in the hopper !’ 
