Not more than a century ago English farmers thought it necessary to sow barley when the earliest note of the cuckoo was heard in order to insure a full crop. In Russian folklore the Erzians from Mordovia the story is that the cuckoo was destined to become a domestic bird, however, at first it promised […]
Tag: England
Bird stories, Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
In Greek folklore fables the cormorant was once a wool-merchant. He entered into a partnership with the bramble and the bat, and they freighted a large ship with wool. She was wrecked and the firm became bankrupt. Since that disaster the bat skulks about until midnight to avoid his creditors, the cormorant is forever diving […]
Bird stories, Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
In Norway crows are thought to go down to hell once every year, when they must appear before Satan and give him a tribute of feathers. The supreme war-goddess of the Gaels of Scotland, was Morrigu, the Red Woman or war goddess, who figures in the adventures of Cuchulain, and whose favorite disguise was to […]
Bird stories, the Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)
So called from the old legend which declared this bird to be produced from trees, resembling willows, which grew in the Orkney Isles ; it being also believed that each end of the branch produced small round balls, which, when ripe, dropped into the sea, and then appeared as a perfect goose. There is a […]