School: Culdaff

Location:
Culdaff, Co. Donegal
Teacher:
Ailís Eibhlín de Brún
Browse
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1123, Page 062

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1123, Page 062

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: Culdaff
  2. XML Page 062
  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. (continued from previous page)
    Seven for a secret that is never to be told."
    Other believe that if a bird flies into one's dwelling house, it is the sign of death.
    In have never heard any people interpret the birds language except one.
    "Wee bit of bread and no cheese
    Pity, pity me."
    This is supposed to be what the yellow-hammer,a small speckled bird with a yellow neck says.
    I have only heard once how the robin was supposed to have got his red breast. When Our Saviour was been crucified, and had a crown of thorns on his head, the robin was supposed to have come, and picked a thorn out of his brow. A drop of blood fell on the robin's breast, and from that day to this, the robin had still got his red breast.
    A remarkable thing about the wren is that in the springtime, when all the birds are building their nests, the cock-wren builds a nest, and when he has it built, he leaves it, and goes and builds another until his temper cools. This is how so many empty wren's nests are found in the bushes in the springtime.
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. agents (~1)
      1. animal-lore (~1,185)
        1. bird-lore (~2,478)
    Language
    English