J. F. Campbell Collection > Popular rhymes of Scotland

RHYMES UPON NATURAL OBJECTS. 165
WILD GEESE.
On seeing wild geese on the wing, the boys cry at the
top of their voices —
Here's a string o' wild geese,
How mony for a penny ?
Ane to my lord,
And ane to my lady ;
Up the gate and down the gate.
They're a' Romh frae me !
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS.
The bat, the bee, the butterfly.
The cuckoo, and the swallow,
The heather-bleet and corncraik,*
Sleep a' in a little holie.
This rhyme, and the term Seven Sleepers, applied to the
animals enumerated, form a curious memorial of a rustic
fallacy respecting the migratory birds — which, strange to
say, was not abandoned even by naturalists till a very recent
period.
THE ROOK.
On the first of March,
The craws begin to search ;
By the first o' April,
They are sitting still ;
By the first o' May,
They're a' flown away ;
Croupin' greedy back again,
Wi' October's wind and rain.
THE CORBIE.
The rapacious and unsocial character of the carrion crow,
and the peculiar sounds of its voice, have given rise to
curious notions respecting it among the rustic classes. The
lonely shepherd who overhears a pair croaking behind a
neighbouring hillock or enclosure, amuses his fancy by
forming regular dialogues out of their conversation — thus,
for instance : —
A hoggie dead ! a hoggie dead ! a hoggie dead !
Oh where ? oh where ? oh where ?