e.

I was speaking to a farmer's wife--whose name it is not necessary to
give, as it has nothing to do with the tale--when a magpie flew across
our view. "Ah!" she ejaculated, "you naughty old thing, what do you want
here?" "I see," said I, "you think she brings bad luck with her." "Oh,
yes," was the response, "I know she does." "What makes you so positive,"
said I, "that she brings bad luck with her?" My question elicited the
following story. My friend commenced:--"You know the brook at the bottom
of the hill. Well, my mother met with very bad luck there, a good many
years ago, and it was in this way--she was going to Newtown fair, on our
old horse, and she had a basket of eggs with her. But, just as she was
going to leave the 'fould,' a magpie flew before her. We begged of her
not to go that day--that bad luck would attend her. She would not listen
to us, but started off. However, she never got further than the brook,
at the bottom of the hill, for, when she got there, the old mare made
straight for the brook, and jerked the bridle out of mother's hand, and
down went the mare's head to drink, and off went the basket, and poor
mother too. All the eggs were broken, but I'm glad to say mother was not
much the worse for her fall. But ever since then I know it is unlucky to
see a magpie. But sir," she added, "there is no bad luck for us to-day,
for _the magpie flew from left to right_."

The magpie was thought to be a great thief, and it was popularly supposed
that if its tongue were split into two with silver it could talk like a
man.

The cry of the magpie is a sign of rain. To man its dreaded notes
indicated disaster, thus:--

Clyw grechwen nerth pen, iaith pi--yn addaw
Newyddion drwg i mi.

List! the magpie's hoarse and bitter cry
Shows that misfortune's sigh is nigh.

If this bird builds her nest at the top of a tree the summer will be dry;
if on the lower branches, the summer will be wet.

_The Owl_.

The hooting of an owl about a house was considered a sign of ill luck, if
not of death. This superstition has found a place in rhyme, thus:--

Os y ddylluan ddaw i'r fro,
Lle byddo rhywun afiach
Dod yno i ddweyd y mae'n ddinad,
Na chaiff adferiad mwyach.
If an owl comes to those parts,
Where some one sick is lying,
She comes to say without a doubt,
That that sick one is dying.

_Peacock_.

The peacock's shrill note