1. dúchas.ie
  2. The Schools' Collection
  3. Coillte Mághach

School: Coillte Mághach (roll number 12520)

Location:
Kiltamagh, Co. Mayo
Teacher:
Máirtín Ó Cearbhaill
Browse
Mode:
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0118, Page 224

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0118, Page 224

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.

See copyright details.

Download

Open data

Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

  1. XML School: Coillte Mághach
  2. XML Page 224
  3. XML “Bird-Lore”

Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.

On this page

  1. Bird-Lore (continued)

    Share Share Post
    (continued from previous page)
    The magpie is easily recognised from its black and white colouring. It is not however a very common bird perhaps because it is considered an undesirable neighbour. It preys on other birds' eggs and sometimes young chickens are also devoured by this voracious bird.
    It builds its nest on trees or high hawthorn bushes and crowns the nest with thorns in such a way as to make it very hard to approach it.
    The magpie is a bird of omen. In this district the appearance of a magpie in the neighbourhood used to mean the receiving of a letter. Others considered it a sign of rain to see a magpie singly whereas a pair indicated good weather.
    The magpie lays five or six eggs spotted brown.
    Its call is perhaps the least musical of all birds not including the corncrake and the crow.
    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
    Máirtín Ó Cearbhaill
    Gender
    Male