here is a fable in the Iolo
MSS., p. 159, in Welsh, and the translation appears on page 567 in
English, as follows:--

The magpie, observing the slight knowledge of nest building possessed by
the wood pigeon, kindly undertook the work of giving his friend a lesson
in the art, and as the lesson proceeded, the wood pigeon, bowing, cooed
out:--

_Mi wn_! _Mi wn_! _Mi wn_!

I know! I know! I know!

The instructor was at first pleased with his apt pupil, and proceeded
with his lesson, but before another word could be uttered, the bird
swelling with pride at its own importance and knowledge, said again:--

I know! I know! I know!

The magpie was annoyed at this ignorant assurance, and with bitter
sarcasm said: "Since you know, do it then," and this is why the wood
pigeon's nest is so untidy in our days. In its own mind it knew all
about nest building, and was above receiving instruction, and hence its
present clumsy way of building its nest. This fable gave rise to a
proverb, "As the wood pigeon said to the magpie: 'I know.'"

It is believed that when wood pigeons are seen in large flocks it is a
sign of foul weather.

_Woodpecker_.

The woodpecker's screech was a sign of rain. This bird is called by two
names in Welsh which imply that it foretold storms; as, _Ysgrech y coed_,
the wood screech, and _Caseg y drycin_, the storm mare.

These names have found a place in Welsh couplets:--

"Ysgrech y coed!
Mae'r gwlaw yn dod."

The Woodpecker's cry!
The rain is nigh.

_Bardd Nantglyn_, Robert Davies, Nantglyn, has an englyn to the
woodpecker:--

"I Gaseg y Drycin."

"Och! rhag Caseg, greg rwygiant,--y drycin,
Draw accw yn y ceunant,
Ar fol pren, uwch pen pant,
Cyn 'storm yn canu 'sturmant."

Barddoniaeth R. Davies, p. 61.

My friend Mr. Richard Williams, Celynog, Newtown, translates this stanza
as follows:--

Ah! 'tis the hoarse note of the Woodpecker,
In yonder ravine,
On the round trunk of a tree, above the hollow,
Sounding his horn before the coming storm.

_Yellow Hammer_. (_Penmelyn yr Eithin_).

There is a strange belief in Wales that this bird sacrifices her young to
feed snakes.

_Ass_.

The stripe over the shoulders of the ass is said to have been made by our
Lord when He rode into Jerusalem on an ass, and ever since the mark
remains.

It was thought that the milk of an ass could cure the "de