Hew Morrison Collection > Adhamh agus Eubh, no Craobh Sheanachais nan Gàël

138 HISTORY OF THE
remavkable, that every bii-d, of whatever species,
using this note, is called big or hicen : we say using
this note, because the wren, although smaller than
the majority of them, is not so called, but f//-ean,
from its pecuUar vibrating note, dwelUng upon the
sound r — thus, drr : the land-rail, or corn-craig,
has a similar note, but stronger and raore aspirated,
whence the difFerence in its name, Trèun. This
note of the chicken, or Uttle bird, is the thing ren-
dered in Isaiah x. 14, rather unhappily, "pee/>;"
" my hand hath found, as a nest, the riches of the
people : and as one that gathereth eggs that are
left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was
none that moved the iving, or opened the mouth,
or peeped." How naturally does this beautiful
fìgure sound in the natural language ! " Charobh
aon a dh' fhosgail an gob no 'rinn biog." A bird
smacking, so to speak, with its horny biU, produces
the sound gob ; and the young ones when molested
in a nest, send up a concert of ^^biog, biog."
Peep, in the language of the Gael, is a term
expressive of spitting ofF the tip of the tongue, Uke
our old women or " Pitags," " Buitseachs," or
" Taut-ags," in making a charm, the half of which
process is taken up with spitting into a bottle,
or upon a black thread, afterwards to be appUed,
and the other half, or thereby, in mumbling
some inaudible — probably Cabalistic — words. To
this antiquated method of chirurgery, the writer