Killing a Robin.
In old times ill-luck attended the killing of a robin. If one died in the hand, it was believed that the hand would always tremble. In "Six Pastorals," by George Smith, 1770, the following occurs:—
"I found a robin's nest within our shed
And in the barn a wren has young one's bred;
I never take away their nest, nor try
To catch the old ones, lest a friend should die.
Dick took a robin's nest from the cottage side,
And ere a twelvemonth pass'd his mother died."
In Derbyshire, among many other places, it is believed that the catching and killing of a robin, or taking the eggs from the nest, is sure to be followed by misfortune, such as the death of cattle, blight of corn, etc. The folks say—
"Robins and wrens
Are God's best cocks and hens.
Martins and swallows
Are God's best scholars."
In Yorkshire, if a robin is killed, it is believed that the family cow will give bloody milk.
The Cuckoo.
A superstition prevails in Ireland, and in some parts of England, that any young person, on first hearing the cuckoo, will find a hair of the color of their sweetheart's adhering to their stocking, if they will at once take off their left shoe and examine it carefully. Gay, in his "Shepherd's Week," says—
"Upon a rising bank I sat adown,
Then doff'd my shoe, and, by my troth, I swear
Therein I spied this yellow frizzled hair,
As like to Lubberkin's in curl and hue
As if upon his comely pate it grew."
In Norfolk there is a belief that an unmarried person will remain single as many years as the cuckoo utters its call, when first heard in the spring. Subjoined is an old English invocation—