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The Gaelic Names of Birds. to
Nest on Ciindlemas, egg at Shrove-tide, bird at Easter ;
If the raven have them not, death then is liis lot.
Anotlier old pi'overb about the raven's nest says— " Oiod a b'^ill
loat fliaighinn 'an nead an fhithich ach am fitheach fein f—Wliat
\vould you ox])ect to find in the raven's nest but tlie raven itself.
The well-known f-rest of the INIacdonells of Glengarry is a raven
})erched upon a rock, and the slogan or war-cry of that gallant
CARRION CROW.
Latin Covvks rorone. Gaelic — Feannag. Cnaimheach ;
(jarrac/i—t\ie young. Welsh—Brdn di/ddi/n.
Garrarj^
A good friend of mine in Galloway, when questioned lately
al)i)ut his religion, defined it— "That he aye tried to do as little
ill and as muckle guid as he could," but I am afraid the conduct
of the carrion crow is just the very rererse, as he seems "aye to do
as muckle ill and as little guid as he can ;" an opinion in which
Grey agrees with me, as he says, in his Birds of the West of Scotland—
" On one occasion, when walking along the banks of Loch-
Eck, in Argyllshire, I observed a small party of carrion crows in
a rye-grass held, busily engaged in catching moths as they clung
to the stems of grass. The birds drew up their bodies, md
appeared as if wading at some disadvantage, the tall grass obliging
them to jump occasionally off the ground to reach their prey.
This is the only instance I can recollect in which it can be said
that their rej)ast Avas not a work of mischief." The only redeeming
trait in this bird's character is the extreme care it takes of its
j'oung, and its untiring exertions in feeding them, a fact taken
notice of and expressed by our ancestors in the old sayings :
" Is toigh leis an fheannaig a h-isean garrach gorm " — the crow
likes her greedy blue cliick ; and " Is l)oidheach leis an fheannaig
a gorm garrach fhein"— the crow thinks her own blue chick a
beaiity. We have also two other old sayings imitating the cry of
the crow :— " Fag, fag ! thuirt an flieannaig, 's i mo nighea}! a
gharrag dhonn " — go, go ! said
the crow, that brown chick is my
child ; " ' Gorach, gorach', ars an fheannag, ' 's e mo mhac-s' an
garrach gorm ' " — gorach, gorach, said the crow, it is my son that
is the blue chick. Other the old pi'overbs referring to the crow
are :— " An taobh a theid an fheannag, bheir i 'feaman leatha "
Wherever the crew goes, she takes her tail with her ; and "Is
dithis dhuinn sin, mar thuirt an fheannag ri 'casan'—That's a
pair, as tlie crow said to her feet.
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