C H A P T E R X I I .
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l / iT I 'i .T r r gH E association of trees and birds has been the
theme of the most ancient writers. The Skalds
have sung how an Eagle sat in stately majesty
on the topmost branch of Yggdrasill, whilst the
keen-eyed Hawk hovered around. The Vedas
record how the Pippala of the Hindu Paradise
was daily visited by two beauteous birds, one of
22020232^ which fed from its celestial food, whilst its companion
poured forth delicious melody from its reed-like throat.
On the summit of the mystic Soma-tree were perched two birds,
the one engaged in expressing the immortalising Soma-juice, the
other feeding on the Figs which hung from the branches of the
sacred tree. A bird, bearing in its beak a twig plucked from its
favourite tree, admonished the patriarch Noah that the waters of
the flood were subsiding from the deluged world.
In olden times there appears to have been a notion that in
some cases plants could not be germinated excepting through the
direct intervention of birds. Thus Bacon tells us of a tradition,
current in his day, that a bird, called a Missel-bird, fed upon a
seed which, being unable to digest, she evacuated whole; and that
this seed, falling upon boughs of trees, put forth the Mistletoe. A
similar story is told by Tavernier of the Nutmeg. “ It is observable,”
he says, “ that the Nutmeg-tree is never planted : this has
been attested to me by several persons who have resided many
years in the islands of Bonda. I have been assured that when the
nuts are ripe, there come certain birds from the islands that lie
towards the South, who swallow them down whole, and evacuate
them whole likewise, without ever having digested them. These
.nuts being then covered with a viscous and glutinous matter,
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when they fall on the ground, take root, vegetate, and produce a
tree, which would not grow from them if they were planted like
other trees.” .
The Druids, dwelling as they did in groves and iorests,
frequented by birds and animals, were adepts at interpreting the
meaning of their anions and sounds. A knowledge of the language
of the bird and animal kingdoms was deemed by them a marvellous
gift, which was only to be imparted to the priestess who should be
fortunate enough to tread under foot the mystic Selago, or Golden
Herb*A
t a time when men had no almanack to warn them of toe
changing of the seasons, no calendar to guide them in the planting
of their fields and gardens, the arrival and departure of birds
helped to direcft them in the cultivation of plants. So we find
Ecclesiastes preached “ a bird of the air shall carry the voice,”
and in modern times the popular saying arose of “ a little bird
has told me.” , i • -i
This notion of the birds imparting knowledge is prettily
rendered by Hans Christian Andersen, in his story of the Fir-tree,
where the sapling wonders what is done with the trees taken out of
the wood at Christmas time. “ Ah, we know—we know,’’/wittered
the Sparrows; “ for we have looked in at the windows in yonder
^^'^^Dr. Solander tells us that the peasants of Upland remark that
“ When you see the Wheatear you may sow your grain,” for in this
country there is seldom any severe frost _ after the Wheatear
appears; and the shepherds of Salisbury Plain say:—
“ When Dotterel do first appear,
It shows that frost is very near;
But when the Dotterel do go,
Then you may look for heavy snow.”
Aristophanes makes one of his charadlers say that in former
times the Kite ruled the Greeks; his meaning being that in
ancient days the Kite was looked upon as the sign of Spring and
of the necessity of commencing active work in field and garden;
and again, “ The Crow points out the time for sowing when she
flies croaking to L ib y a .” In another place he notices that the
Cuckoo in like manner governed Phoenicia and Egypt, because
when it cried Kohku, Kokku, it was considered time to reap the
Wheat and Barley fields. _ . , ^
In our own country, this welcome harbinger of the Springtide
has been associated with a number of vernal plants: we have the
Cuckoo Flower {Lychnis Flos cuculi), Cuckoo’s Bread or Meat, and
Cuckoo’s Sorrel {Oxalis Acetosella), Cuckoo Grass {Lazula campestns),
and Shakspeare’s “ Cuckoo Buds of yellow hue,” which are th o u g j
to be the buds of the Crowfoot {Ranunculus). The association in
the popular rhyme of the Cuckoo with the Cherry-tree is explained
by an old superstition that before it ceases its song, the CuckoQ