ill 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.

_A White Cock_.

A white cock was looked upon as an unlucky bird, thus:--

Na chadw byth yn nghylch dy dy,
Na cheiliog gwyn, na chath ddu.

Never keep about thy house,
A white cock, nor black cat.

_Crane_.

The crane is often mistaken for the heron. When the crane flies against
the stream, she asks for rain, when with the stream she asks for fair
weather.

This bird is said to be thin when the moon wanes, and fat at the waxing
of the moon.

_Ducks_.

When ducks sportively chase each other through the water, and flap their
wings and dive about, in evident enjoyment of their pastime, it is a sign
that rain is not far off.

_Eagle_.

Persons who had eaten eagle's flesh had power to cure erysipelas, and
this virtue was said by some to be transmitted to their descendants for
ever, whilst others affirmed it only lasted for nine generations. See
page 263, where this subject is fully