or mischievous
children have made in their abodes; and their pleasant twitterings are a
pleasure to the occupants of the house along which they build their
nests, for the visit is a sign of luck.

The flight of the swallow is a good weather sign. When the swallow flies
high in the air, it is a sign of fair weather; when, on the other hand,
it skims the earth, it is a sign of rain.

It was a great misfortune to break a swallow's nest, for--

Y neb a doro nyth y wenol,
Ni wel fwyniant yn dragwyddol.

Whoever breaks a swallow's nest,
Shall forfeit everlasting rest.

_The Swan_.

The eggs of the swan are hatched by thunder and lightning. This bird
sings its own death song.

_The Swift_.

This bird's motions are looked upon as weather signs. Its feeding
regions are high up in the air when the weather is settled for fair, and
low down when rain is approaching.

Its screaming is supposed to indicate a change of weather from fair to
rain.

_Tit Major_, _or Sawyer_.

The Rev. E. V. Owen, Vicar of Llwydiarth, Montgomeryshire, told me that
the Tit's notes are a sign of rain, at least, that it is so considered in
his parish. The people call the bird "Sawyer," and they say its notes
resemble in sound the filing of a saw. A man once said to my friend:--"I
dunna like to hear that old sawyer whetting his saw." "Why not," said
Mr. Owen. "'Cause it'll rain afore morning," was the answer. This bird,
if heard in February, when the snow or frost is on the ground, indicates
a breaking up of the weather. Its sharp notes rapidly repeated several
times in succession are welcome sounds in hard weather, for they show
that spring is coming.

_The Wren_.

The Wren's life is sacred, excepting at one time of the year, for should
anyone take this wee birdie's life away, upon him some mishap will fall.
The wren is classed with the Robin:--

The robin and the wren
Are God's cock and hen.

The cruel sport of hunting the wren on St. Stephen's Day, which the
writer has a dim recollection of having in his boyhood joined in, was the
one time in the year when the wren's life was in jeopardy.

The Rev. Silvan Evans, in a letter to the _Academy_, which has been
reproduced in _Bye-Gones_, vol. vii., p. 206, alludes to this sport in
these words:--

"Something similar to the 'hunting of the wren' was not unknown to the
Principality as late as about a century ago, or later. In the Ch