116 
BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
of a cream colour, hatched at a farm-steading m Eskdale 
and being much thought of by the tenant, were str ctly 
^reserved^nd continued near the spot for many years * 
^ O^ng to the rarity of these birds nowadays one seldom 
hearTthe old rhymes teUing what varying numbers portend . 
" One's joy, two's grief, , 
Three's a marriage, four s deatn. 
the version given by the late James Shaw.t For the 
l^J^r^ bJ comforting to remember an alter- 
native version, given as equally rehable : 
One's sorrow, two's mirth. 
Three's a wedding, four's a birth, 
Five's a funeral, six is snaw. 
Seven draws the dead awa'.' t 
Seven araws nit? • + . -i-'^.^c i-r. 
By conveniently forgetting the version ««P'«£i°;; 
the occasion, the observer of Magpies may escape the feehng 
of an unpleasant augury ! 
THE JACKDAW. Corvus ynonedula, Linnaeus. 
Local names-KEEA ; Keeaw ; Daw. 
A common resident. 
In spite of persecution there has been an undoubted 
LZiin the number of Jackdaws during the la«t fifteen 
^'in'its choice of a nesting-site this bird often becomes a 
nuisance to the householder, and its nests c^/^ ?-«^^^^^ 
seen in the chimneys of our county-town. At this season 
of the year its fear of man seems lessened, and any unused 
chimney or cavity may be tenanted by the unwelcome 
s" William Jardine writes of these birds at 
Sne HaU: "We have seen attempts made to build 
* Mag. Nat. Hist.. 1834, Vol. VII., p. 595. 
t A Country Schoolmaster, 1899, p. 31. 
1 Tran.. D. and Q. Nat. Hut. Soc. February 14th, 1896. 
