and rustle of their wings.'

"'What was the danger?'

"'If a man once sees them, heaven only knows what will not happen
to him--death and damnation at the very least.'

"'I have seen them many times. I shot, or tried to shoot them!'

"'Holy Mother of God! you English are an awful people! You shot
the Seven Whistlers?'

"'Yes; we call them marecos (teal or widgeon) in our country, and
shoot them whenever we can. They are better to eat than wild
ducks.'"

_Gabriel's Hounds._--"At Wednesbury in Staffordshire, the colliers going
to their pits early in the morning hear the noise of a pack of hounds in
the air, to which they give the name of Gabriel's Hounds, though the
more sober and judicious take them only to be wild geese making this
noise in their flight." Kennet MS., Lansd. 1033. (See Halliwell's
_Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words_, vol. i. p. 388.) The
peculiar cry or cackle, both of the Brent Goose and of the Bean or
Harvest Goose (_Anser Segetum_), has often been likened to that of a
pack of hounds in full cry--especially when the birds are on the wing
during night. For some account of the superstition of "Gabriel's
Hounds," see _Notes and Queries_, First Series, vol. v. pp. 534 and 596;
and vol. xii. p. 470; Second Series, vol. i. p. 80; and Fourth Series,
vol. vii. p. 299. In the last note these hounds are said to be popularly
believed to be "the souls of unbaptized children wandering in the air
till the day of judgment." They are also explained as "a thing in the
air, that is said in these parts (Sheffield) to foretell calamity,
sounding like a great pack of beagles in full cry." This quotation is
from Charles Reade's _Put yourself in his place_, which contains many
scraps of local folk-lore. The following is from the _Statistical
History of Kirkmichael_, by the Rev. John Grant. "In the autumnal
season, when the moon shines from a serene sky, often is the wayfaring
traveller arrested by the music of the hills. Often struck with a more
sober scene, he beholds the visionary hunters engaged in the chase, and
pursuing the deer of the clouds, while the hollow rocks in long
sounding echoes reverberate their cries." "There are several now living
who assert that they have seen and heard this aerial hunting." See the
_Statistical History of Scotland_, edited by Sir J. Sinclair, vol. xii.
pp. 461, 462. Compare note to _An Evening Walk_, vol. i. p. 19.--ED.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Both these