if it were not disposed of
either by killing or selling. They were generally sold to be killed.
Only a few years ago I had such a prodigy among a flock of hens which I
kept about my works, and one day it was overheard crowing, when one of
the workmen came to me, and, with a solemn face, told the circumstance,
and advised me strongly to have it destroyed or put away, as some evil
would surely follow, relating instances he had known in Ireland. This
superstition has found expression in the Scotch proverb: "Whistling
maids and crowing hens are no canny about a house."

Seeing magpies before breakfast was a good or bad omen according to the
number seen up to four. This was expressed in the following rhyme, which
varies slightly in different localities. The following version was
current in my native village:--

"One bodes grief, two's a death,
Three's a wedding, four's a birth."

Chambers in his Scottish Rhymes has it thus:--

"One's joy, two's grief.
Three's a wedding, four's a birth."

I knew a man who, if on going to his work he had seen two _piets_
together, would have refrained from working before he had taken
breakfast, believing that if he did so it would result in evil either to
himself or his family.

If a cock crew in the morning with its head in at the door of the house,
it was a token that a stranger would pay the family a visit that day;
and so firm was the _faith_ in this that it was often followed by works,
the house being _redd_ up for the occasion. I remember lately visiting
an old friend in the country, and on making my appearance I was hailed
with the salutation, "Come awa, I knew we would have a visit from
strangers to-day, for the cock crowed thrice over with his head in at
the door." If a horse stood and looked through a gateway or along a road
where a bride or bridegroom dwelt, it was a very bad omen for the future
happiness of the intending couple. The one dwelling in that direction
would not live long.

If a bird got any human hair, and used it in building its nest, the
person on whose head the hair grew would be troubled with headaches, and
would very soon get bald.

It is still a common belief that crows begin to build their nests on the
first Sabbath of March.

A bird coming into a house and flying over any one's head was an unlucky
omen for the person over whose head it flew.

It was said that eggs laid upon Good Friday never got stale, and that
butter made on that da