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The Gaelic Names of Birds. 75
Ere break of clay my love I'd hail,
A nd prove my heart's devotion.
From its great size, and extremely wary habits, making it so
ditHcult to capture, the swan was always an object of ambition to
the sportsman :
—
Bu til sealgair na h-eala,
'S neul a fal' air a taobh.
As I mentioned before, when at the eagle, no Highlander was reckoned
a finished sportsman till he had killed an eagle, a swan, and
a royal stag. The wild swans, with very few exceptions, always
retire to the Arctic regions in summer to breed, a fact well known
to our ancestors, for in " Miaiin a' Bhaii-d Aosda"- -" The Aged
Bard's Wish "—tlie bard tells us that the swan—the beautiful
maiden of the snow-white breast, that swims so gracefully o'er
the waves, and rises on a light wing, flies through the clouds to the
cold regions of the many waves, where never a sail was spread on
a mast, or the waves cut by an oaken prow of ship ; the swan
that travelled from the region of waves shall sing her lament for
lier love to the aged bard :
—
' Bithidh nighean aluinn an uchd-bhain
A' snamh le sgriach air barr nan tonn ;
'Nuair thogas i sgiath an aird
A measg nan nial, cha'n fhas i trom.
'S trie i ag asdar thar a chuan,
Gu aisridh fhuar nan ioma tonn,
Anns nach togar lireid ri crann,
'S nach do reub sron daraich tuinn.
Bithidh tusa ri dosan nan torn
Le cumhadli do ghaoil aun ad bheul,
Eala thrial) o thur nan tonn,
'S tu seinn dhomh ciuil 'an aird nan speur.
It is a very ancient belief common to most nations, especially the
Celts, that the swan sings very sweetly when wounded or before
it dies. Most naturalists deny this, but the inhabitants of the
remote wild districts now frequented by the wild swans are just
as positive that they do sing, and certainly they should know best.
On this point Mr A. A. (krmichael sent me the following note
from Uist :— "This exceedingly beautiful and graceful bird used
to be a constant winter visitor to all those islands. It is not so
much now. In a severe winter a flock of swans still comes to