were held in great
favour. They were sometimes kept by children as little pets, and allowed
to run upon their hands and clothes, and this was not because of their
beauty, but because to possess a _gooldie_ was considered very lucky. To
kill a beetle brought rain the following day.

The lady bird, with its scarlet coat spotted with black, was another
great favourite with most people. Very few would kill a lady bird, as
such an act would surely be followed by calamity of some sort. Children
were eager to catch one and watch it gracefully spreading out its wings
from under its coat of mail, and then taking flight, while the group of
youthful onlookers would repeat the rhyme,

"Lady bird, lady bird, fly away home,
Your house is on fire, and your children at home."

or

"Lady lady landers, fly away to Flanders."

But these practices were not altogether confined to children. Grown up
girls, when they caught a lady bird, held it in their hands, and
repeated the following couplet--

"Fly away east or fly away west,
And show me where lives the one I like best."

Its flight was watched with great anxiety, and when it took the
direction which the young girl wished, it was not only a sort of
pleasure, but a proof of the augury.

If a person on going to his work, or while going an errand, were to see
a hare cross the road in front of him, it was a token that ill luck
would shortly befall him. Many under such circumstances would return
home and not pursue their quest until the next meal had been eaten, for
beyond that the evil influence did not extend. This superstition is very
old, but it is not in every country or age connected with the hare. We
have already seen in a quotation from Ovid that this superstition
existed in his day, (page 2.) Probably the hare has been adopted in this
country from the belief that witches assumed the form of that animal
when on their nightly rambles, for how was the wayfarer to know that the
hare which he saw was not a transformed witch, intent on working him
mischief?

The cat was always a favourite in a family, and nothing was more unlucky
than for one to die inside the house. I have known cases where, when
such a misfortune occurred, the family were thrown into great
consternation, surmising what possible form of evil this omen portended
to them. Generally when a cat was known to be ailing, the animal was
removed from the house and placed in the coal cellar, or other
ou