Crows’ Feathers.
In Montgomeryshire it was, at one time, supposed that if a person picked up a crow’s feather he was sure to meet a mad dog before the day was over.
But in other parts it was considered lucky to find a crow’s feather, if, when found, it were stuck on end into the ground. This superstition lingered long in Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, a remote, hilly parish in Denbighshire.
Some years ago, crows’ wing or tail feathers could be seen stuck upright in the ground in many parts of Wales, but at present such a thing cannot be seen. The practice and the superstition have come to an end.
A Rookery deserted was a sign of bad luck, but when they nested near a house it was a sign of good luck.
The writer visited, in the year 1887, a gentleman’s park, where for generations the rooks had made a lodgment, and by several persons his attention was called to the ominous fact that the rooks had left the ancestral trees which ornamented the spacious and well-wooded park, and had even carried their nests away with them. He was informed that the desertion boded no good to the highly respected family that occupied that ancient seat.
The writer also visited a friend, who lives in an ancient abode, a mile or two from the rook-rejected park, and, with a smile, he was informed by the lady of the house that a colony of rooks had taken possession of the trees that surrounded her house. He gladly wished her luck, to which she responded—“It has been a long time coming.”
Both these places are in East Denbighshire.
The writer remembers a case in which a rookery was deserted just before misfortune fell upon the gentleman who occupied the house around which grew the trees occupied by the rooks. This gentleman one morning noticed the rooks carrying away their nests to a new home. Se called his servant man to him, and desired him to go after the rooks and destroy their nests in their new abode, in the fond hope that they would thus be induced to return to their old home. This was done more than once, but the rooks would not take the hint; they persisted in gathering up the scattered sticks that strewed the ground, but these they replaced in the trees above, which now had become their new home. When it was found that they would not return, the man desisted, and his master, as he had feared, met with dire misfortune shortly afterwards (see p. 304).
The Cuckoo. Y Gôg.
The cuckoo is a sacred bird. It is safe from the gamekeeper’s gun. Its advent is welcomed with pleasure. “Have you heard the cuckoo?” is a question put by the fortunate person who first hears its notes to every person he meets. When it is ascertained that the cuckoo has arrived, parents give their children pence for luck, and they themselves take care not to leave their houses with empty pockets, for should they do so, those pockets, if the cuckoo is heard, will be empty all the year. Those who hear the cuckoo for the first time thrust immediately their hand in their pockets, and turn their money, or toss a piece into the air, and all this is for luck for the coming year ushered in by the cheering sound of the cuckoo’s notes.
It is believed that the cuckoo is in our country for several days before its welcome two notes are heard, and that the cause of its huskiness is, that it is tired, and has not cleared its voice by sucking birds’ eggs.
Generally the cuckoo is heard for the first time yearly about the same place, and the hill tops not far from the abodes of man are its favourite resort. Thus we have the ditty:—
Cynta’ lle y cân y cogydd,
Yw y fawnog ar y mynydd.The place where first the cuckoo sings,
Is by the peat pits on the hills.
The cuckoo is supposed to be accompanied by the wry-neck, hence its name, “Gwas-y-gôg,” the cuckoo’s servant. The wryneck was thought to build the nest, and hatch and feed the young of the cuckoo.
Many superstitions cluster round the cuckoo; thus, should a person be in doubt as to the way to take, when going from home, to secure success in life, he, or she, waits
for the cuckoo’s return, and then should the bird be heard for the first time, singing towards the east, as it flies, that is the direction to take, or any other direction as the case may be; and it is, or was, even thought that the flight of the cuckoo, singing as it flies before a person, for the first time in the year, indicated a change of abode for that person, and the new home lay in the direction in which the cuckoo flew.
Should the cuckoo make its appearance before the leaves appear on the hawthorn bush, it is a sign of a dry, barren year.
Os cân y gôg ar ddrain-llwyn llwm,
Gwerth dy geffyl a phryn dy bwn.If the cuckoo sings on a hawthorn bare,
Sell thy horse, and thy pack prepare.
The Welsh words I heard at Llanuwchllyn, a good many years ago, just as the cuckoo’s voice was heard for the first time in those parts, and there were then no leaves out on the hedgerows. I do not recollect whether the prophecy became true, but it was an aged Welshman that made use of the words. Another version of the same is heard in Llanwddyn parish:—
Os cân y gôg ar bincyn llwm,
Gwerth dy geffyl a phryn dy bwn.If the cuckoo sings on a sprig that’s bare,
Sell thy horse, and thy pack prepare.
The latter ditty suits a hilly country, and the former applies to the low lands where there are hedgerows.
The early singing of the cuckoo implies a plentiful crop of hay, and this belief is embodied in the following ditty:—
Mis cyn Clamme cân y côge,
Mis cyn Awst y cana’ inne.
If the cuckoo sings a month before May-day,
I will sing a month before August.
Calan Mai, May-day, abbreviated to Clamme, according to the Old Style, corresponds with our 12th of May, and the above saying means, that there would be such an abundant hay harvest if the cuckoo sang a month before May-day, that the farmer would himself sing for joy on the 12th of July. It was the custom in the uplands of Wales to begin the hay harvest on the 1st of July.
The above I heard in Montgomeryshire, and also the following:—
Mis cyn Clamme cân y côge,
Mis cyn hynny tyf mriallu.
That is:—
If the cuckoo sings a month before May-day,
Primroses will grow a month before that time.
I do not know what this means, unless it implies that early primroses foretell an early summer.
But, speaking of the song of the cuckoo, we have the following lines:—
Amser i ganu ydi Ebrill a Mai,
A hanner Mehefin, chwi wyddoch bob rhai.
This corresponds somewhat with the English:—
The cuckoo sings in April,
The cuckoo sings in May,
The cuckoo sings to the middle of June,
And then she flies away.
In Mochdre parish, Montgomeryshire, I was told the following:—
In May she sings all day,
In June she’s out of tune.
The following Welsh lines show that the cuckoo will not sing when the hay harvest begins:—
Pan welith hi gocyn,
Ni chanith hi gwcw.When she sees a heap,
Silence she will keep.
In certain parts of Wales, such as Montgomeryshire, bordering on Shropshire, it is thought that the cuckoo never sings after Midsummer-day. This faith finds corroborative support in the following lines:—
The cuckoo sings in April,
The cuckoo sings in May,
The cuckoo sings in Midsummer,
But never on that day.
In Flintshire, in Hawarden parish, it is believed that she mates in June, as shown by these words:—
The cuckoo comes in April,
The cuckoo sings in May,
The cuckoo mates in June,
And in July she flies away.
In Montgomeryshire I have often heard these lines:—
The cuckoo is a fine bird,
She sings as she flies,
She brings us good tidings,
And never tells us lies;
She sucks young birds’ eggs,
To make her voice clear,
And the more she sings “Cuckoo,”
The summer is quite near.
The last two lines are varied thus:—
And then she sings, “Cuckoo”
Three months in every year.
Or:—
And when she sings “Cuckoo”
The summer is near.
The cuckoo was credited with sucking birds’ eggs, to make room for her own, as well as to acquire a clear voice. Perhaps the rustic belief is at fault here. The writer has seen a cuckoo rise from the ground with an egg in her mouth, but he has seen it stated that the cuckoo always lays her eggs on the ground, and carries them in her mouth until she discovers a nest wherein to deposit them, and when she has done this her mother’s care is over.