School: Ínse Cloch (roll number 7101)

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1. Bird-Lore (continued)

   

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   rearing and feeding her, she threw the other young birds out of their nest, and it is said that the meadow pipit, for revenge, follows the cuckoo from that day to this.
   The blackbird has a yellow beak because it is the male bird. Boys are told that the birds will curse them if they rob birds' nests. When the birds sing they say "cheer up" or "come and see". The magpie is supposed to foretell the future. The wren is the "king of the birds" and she lays about twenty eggs. There is a story connected with the wren. Long ago the king of the birds said that one day all the birds of the nation should gather together and have a race, so as to know which of them would be the king when he would die.
   So one day all the birds gathered together for the race. The wren being the smallest of all the birds, when the race started, the wren perched lightly on the wing of the stronger bird, the eagle, and remained there until the eagle could not fly any higher, and was also very tired. The wren who hid under his wing, was not fatigued and soared out bravely up into the air, thus winning the race and shouting to the others "I am the king", and from that day to

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. agents (~1)
      1. animal-lore (~1,185)
         1. bird-lore (~2,478)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Michael Hurley

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Dromsullivan South, Co. Cork

   Informant

   Mr T. Coppinger

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   72

   Address

   Ards More West, Co. Cork