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74 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
" Bu tu sealgair a' chathain
Theid san athar le scaoim,"
and in the same work we have in an old song by Donald Gorra's
daughter to Lachlan og Mackinnon —
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" Gur sealgair geoidh 's catliain tliu,
Roin mliaoil re taobh na raara thii,
Theid miol-choin ann an tabhann leat
'S bidh abhaic air an lorg."
BRENT GOOSE.
Latin — Anser, Greuta. Gaelic Geadh-got, Got-qheadh, Giruenan
(Grey). Welsh Gtvyran, fanyiv.
HOOPER, OR WILD SWAN.
Latin
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Cynqas ferus. Gaelic
Eala, Eala-fhiadhaich, Eala-hhan.
Welsh—vl/rt?Y7i, cjivyUt.
The wild swan—Nighean uchd-gheal nan sruth — " The whitebosomed
maiden of the streams," as it is poetically called by
some of our old bards, is perhaps oftener mentioned in the old
lore of the Highlands than any other bird. Its graceful form,
purity of colour, and majestic and easy motions on the water,
made it a theme for the poet and the lover, who compared his
lady-love to the graceful swan. Macintyre says of Iseabal Og :
And Macdonald says of Morag :
'S e coltas na h-ainnir
An eal 'air an t-snamh.
As graceful the maiden
As swan on the lake.
Maighdeann bhoidheach nam bas caoine,
'S iad cho maoth ri cloimh na h-eala.
Beautiful maiden, whose hands are as white
And as soft as the down of the swan.
And often when separated by the sea, the ardent lover wished he
coiUd swim like the swan, and so reach his beloved, as we have it
in C 'aite 'n caidil an ribhinn :
'S e dh 'iarrninn riochd na h-eala bhain
A shnandias thar a' chaolas,
'Us rachainn feiii troimh thonnaibh breun
A chuir an geill mo ghaoil dhuit.
If, like the swan, I now could sail
Across the trackless ocean ;
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