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Various

"Notes and Queries, Number 41, August 10, 1850"

{165} Before the
death of a person, a robin is believed, in many instances, to tap thrice
at the window of the room in which he or she may be. The wren is also a
bird which superstition protects from injury; but it is by no means
treated with such reverence as the robin. The praises of both are sung
in the old couplet:--
"The robin and the wren,
Be God A'mighty's cock and hen."
_Pigeons._--No one, it is believed, can die on pigeons' feathers. In the
northern parts of the county, the same thing is said of game
feathers,--a superstition also current in Kent.--_Ingolsby Legends_,
Third Series, p. 133.
_Wasps._--The first wasp seen in the season should always be killed. By
so doing you secure to yourself good luck and freedom from enemies
throughout the year.
_Bees._--The superstitious ceremonies and observances attached to these
animals appear to be current throughout the kingdom, and by no means
suffer any diminution in this county. Among others of less common
occurrence, we have the belief that they will not thrive in a
quarrelsome fammily.
The wild, or, as we term him, the _humble bee_, is not without a share
of the superstitions which pertain to his more civilised brethren. The
entrance of one into a cottage is deemed a certain sign of death.
_Spiders.


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