And lo, all the birds of the air flew nigh. The golden eagle soared from the Cuchullins in far-off Skye, and the osprey from the wild lochs of Mull; the gannet from above the clouds, and the fulmar and petrel from the green wave: the cormorant and the skua from the weedy rock, and the plover and the kestrel from the machar: the corbie and the raven from the moor, and the snipe and the bittern and the heron: the cuckoo and cushat from the woodland; the crane from the swamps, the lark from the sky, and the mavis and the merle from the green bushes: the yellowyite, the shilfa, and the lintie, the gyalvonn and the wren and the redbreast, one and all, every creature of the wings, they came at the bidding.
“Peace!” cried Colum.
“Peace!” cried all the Birds, and even the Eagle, the Kestrel, the Corbie, and the Raven cried Peace, Peace!
“I will say the Mass,” said Colum the White.
And with that he said the Mass. And he blessed the birds. When the last chant was sung, only Bru-dhearg remained.
“Come, O Ruddy-Breast,” said Colum, “and sing to us of the Christ.”
Through a golden hour thereafter the Redbreast sang. Sweet was the joy of it.
At the end, Colum said “Peace! In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”
Thereat Ardan the Pict bowed his head, and in a loud voice repeated—“Sìth (shee)! An ainm an Athar, ’s an mhic, ’s an Spioraid Naoimh!”
And to this day the song of the Birds of Colum, as they are called in Hy, is Sìth—Sìth—Sìth—an—ainm—Chriosd—“Peace—Peace—Peace—in the name of Christ!”