The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-07-24

/ ana q cat Is never taken from
one house to another, when removing;
| but the fishermen OF the west coast
make good use of the cat They secure
| favoring winds by burying it in the sands
OF the seashore, with its head opposite the
desired direction. Persons who enter into
a compact with Satan can raise wind and
storms by calling him up, and these dis
turbances cannot be stilled save by the
death of a black cock, black dog, or an
unchristened child. The pishthrOqes are
all charms of an evil nature. They are
surprising in number, and the pishh,rOge
woman, whose exclusive vocation is to
/ exercise them, exists 10 this day among
the mountains of the west of Ireland. In
| some parts Of the country crickets are re-
| garded as possessing vindictive powers.
| and all manner of devices are resorted to
/ for their Cancellation. But one OF the
oldest of all Irish superstitious Is the
| belief that If you chase and catch
| butterfly YOU imprison the wandering soul
! of your grandmother.
L have never seen printed any reference
| TO Irish superstitiOns signs and pOrtents
regarding birds In my wanderings among
the peasantry | have found that such were
simply innumerable. Here are few out
ofIseveral hundred scattered through my
note books: If an osprey be shot along
Will Immediately disappear If the hen
barrier. which only hunts by twilight in
precisely the same winged circles above
| the fallOws each evening. is missed from
its accustomed raptorial haunt, some evil
spirit Is said to be lowering about the
locality. When water-ousels appear IN
the spring-time in unusual numbers in
any unfrequented locality, that is a sign of
abundance of fresh-water fish, but also a
| token of the approach of malignant dis
ease. On the west coast in early spring
| the poor fisherman watches early and late
J Tor the gannet. He calls at the solan, or
swlft-hying goose. If it does not come his
| heart sinks. for there will be no luck at
| fishing; but if great numbers wheel about
| the head-lands Of the coast, plenty will
smile in his cabin-home that year
| Great numbers of jaws or massachusetts
| feeding upon the berries of the hawthorne
betoken the approach of very cold win
| ter, and their grackle-like calls bring fear
| to the heart if the meal be low and the
| peat be scant in the little tenant-cabin.
The crane is believed by the peasantry
| to have disappeared from Erin during
! bloody Cromwells career OF rapine
and pillage; il Is firmly believed
that its temperance will harbinger
| the freedom OF Ireland; while ''as
| long for sight Of the crane" becomes a
tender and pathetic expression indicative
| OF a universal heart-hunger for liberty.
| If the stacks are not circled each night by
| the noiseless barn-owl, a blight will fall
| on next seasons crops; and if the long
cared owl, resting upon gate-post or
thatch, before gliding into its feeding
ground upon the meadows, utters three
| prolonged boots (popularly believed to be
a cry TO the power OF the trinity, death
viii soon occur in the family occupying
that holding; while, if the snowy owl,
wierd and dashing fellow, indeed, be
allowed to descend from his lookout
and carry away another bird winged
by a shot OF sportsman's gun. some
great III Is certain to befall that hunter.
When the nest of the thrush or mavis
IS built unusually high in the thorn-bush,
this betOkens a great calamity 10 the
neighbOrhood. for some distressing dis
turhance Is under way among the fairies,
| who in happy or friendly mood always
| see 10 it that these nests are built near
their haunts in the grasses, that they may
| more readily enjoy the music OF the
| thrush's songs. The crops of sweet-sing-
| ing blackbirds are supposed to hold the
souls OF those in purgatOry, especially
| those exposed to perditionary fires until
the judgment day; and whenever the
| black-bird's notes are particularly Shriil,
| these parched and burning souls are i'm
| ploring for rain which never fails OF com
| ing in response 10 the bird-cries for their
| relief. The Wicklow mountains are nota-
| bly, the haunts of the ring ousel or mount
| ain stare. Whenever after singing bis
| fine, deep song he hesitates Tor a time and
| then is heard to utter a loud shrill and
| prolonged whistle, that nightevery human
/ that has heard il will remain behind
! barred doors; for that is a true fairy-call,
| and the wee folk of Wicklow are sure
| to congregate in the mOOnlit mountain
! hollows and dance rings round their
swate selves until dawn. Both the robin
and the wren compel a superstitious rev
| erence and love in the Irish peasant heart,
| and there is not a soul in Ireland when
asked concerning the cause of it who will
| not instantly quote the couple
The robin and the wren
Are Gods two holy men,"
1t is also a strange superstition in some
| parts of Ireland that any old graveyard
| where the robin is not found TO sing it's re-
/ QUEEN songs, individually possesses some
malachi or curse. The wheatear or stone
chat, haunting low and rocky reaches of
seashore. is called in Irish the ''custeen
| fayclough, or the cunning old man
| under the stone" His call of "kleek,
KICK, resembles the ringing SLf1kl0g To-
gether OF small stones, and when heard by
coastwise folk is regarded with the utmost
| trepidatiOn as calls of the portentious
character 70 the "Ould one" himself. The
winchat with its hysteric futterings
and its cry OF "u-teek, u-teek," in
its attempts to decoy the intruder from
the locality OF It's nest, is regarded with
the same grewsOme apprehension. Moth
ing can prevent any Irish lad when once
tempted to disturb the nest OF the golden
wren from irrevocably becoming village
shaughran or vagrant of the worst de-
scriptiOn. The sedgewarbler, known more
popularity as the Irish nightingale" Is
the object OF a most tender superstition.
BY day 1t is a registering fellow enough
almost as impish as our American mock
ing-bird, inits cumulative attempts TO dem
onstrate its ability to out-sing the
original songs OF any feathered melodist
that ventures near its haunts among the
reeds by the murmuring streams. But
! when it sings at night. and particularly at
J the exact hour OF midnight, its plaintive
| and tender notes are no less than the
voices OF babes that thus return from the
spirit-land to sOOthe their poor, heart
aching mothers for the great loss of their
darlings The hapless little hedge
sparrow has great trouble in raising
any young at all, as its beautiful blueish-
green eggs when strung above the hob,