Woodpecker
:
BIRDS AND BEASTS.
The woodpecker's screech was a sign of rain. This bird is called by two
names in Welsh which imply that it foretold storms; as, Ysgrech y coed,
the wood screech, and Caseg y drycin, the storm mare.
These names have found a place in Welsh couplets:--
Ysgrech y coed!
Mae'r gwlaw yn dod.
The Woodpecker's cry!
The rain is nigh.
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Bardd Nantglyn, Robert Davies, Nantglyn, has an englyn to the
woodpecker:--
I Gaseg y Drycin.
Och! rhag Caseg, greg rwygiant,--y drycin,
Draw accw yn y ceunant,
Ar fol pren, uwch pen pant,
Cyn 'storm yn canu 'sturmant.
Barddoniaeth R. Davies, p. 61.
My friend Mr. Richard Williams, Celynog, Newtown, translates this stanza
as follows:--
Ah! 'tis the hoarse note of the Woodpecker,
In yonder ravine,
On the round trunk of a tree, above the hollow,
Sounding his horn before the coming storm.
Yellow Hammer. (Penmelyn yr Eithin).
There is a strange belief in Wales that this bird sacrifices her young to
feed snakes.