Page:Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders.djvu/147

 Rh thus the two birds are named together in the Pastorals of George Smith, A.D. 1770:—

Nevertheless, at Christmas-tide boys are accustomed in Essex to kill wrens and carry them about in furze-bushes, from house to house, asking a present in these words:—

It is remarkable that the custom extends to the Isle of Man, where the following verse is used:—

And after making a circuit, and collecting what money they can, the boys lay the wren on a bier and bury it. The same usage has prevailed in Ireland and in France; it is a singular one, and has been thus explained. The bird had a sacred character among our Celtic ancestors, as among the Greeks. It was a bearer of celestial fire, and disputed with the eagle the kingship of the feathered creation. Early Christian teachers opposed the superstitious respect paid to the little creature, and their lessons were singularly embodied in this cruel persecution.

The bawkie-bird, or bat, immortalised by Shakespear as “the delicate Ariel’s” steed, is in Scotland connected with witchcraft.