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The Gaelic Names of Birds. 33
Fond l)l;u'kl)ircl, fond hhu-khird, sad, sad is thy song—
'J'lii' cause of thy grief I would Icar;; ;
Bright summer is coming, hear hnw thf woods ring,
And welcome his kingly return.
Fond blackbird, fond blackbird, the laik, soaring high,
Salutes the l)right orb of the day;
'Hie cuckoo and thrush sing together for joy,
Why then art (Iloii joyless, O say?
Fond blackbii-d, thy ])laint makes my Jieart almost bleed;
Pire, dire must indeed be thy doom ;
Has the friend of thy l)osom pi-oved false ! or did fade
Each young ho))e that once promised to bloom "?
Fond blackbird, fond blackbird, say, lov'st thou in vain,
Or is thy fair consort unkind 1
Ah, no— could she listen to that melting strain,
And leave the sweet warbler to pine
Fond blackbird, fond blackbird, the berry and sloe
"Will soon be thy banquet so rare ;
'J "he buzzard and falcon are far out of view,
To wail, then, sweet mourner, forbear.
Fond blackbird, fond blackbird, now, now do I mind
The fowler yestreen sought the l)rake ;
'I'hy partner's soft jilumage he strew'd on the wind!
Nought else could such deep woes awake.
Very curiously the Gaelic name of the huge and long extinct deer,
the elk, is the same as that of the blackbird, Lon-dubh, and most
certainly it is the elk that is referred to, and not the blackbird in
tlie very ancient saying— " An Lon-dubh, an Lon-dubh spagach !
thug mise dha coille fhasgach fheurach, 's thug esan dhonih an
Mionadh dubh fasach." Sheriff Nicholson translates this—The
blackbird, the sprawling blackbird !
!
—
T gave him a shelt(u-ed grassy
wood, and he gave me the black desolute moor. Mackintosh in
Ids (laelic Proverbs translates it—The ouzel, the club-footed ouzel,
ic, (wiiich, of course, is wrontr, as the ouzel has no claim to this
name), and adds a note— " Some say that this alludes to the
Roman invasion, and others refer it to the Scandinavian incursions,
when the Gael left the more sheltered spots and pasture ranges,
and iJed to the fastnesses of the Grampian hills." I have no
d(ml)t the propei' translation is—The elk, the bow-legged, or club-
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