Crows foretell rain when they caw and walk along on the banks of rivers
and pools.
A crow alighting in front of anyone walking is unlucky.
Two crows bring good luck, and if they fly away over the person's head
it is very great good luck.
Four crows foretell a death in the person's family.
I was recently told that two crows alighting on a house betokens a
death, and a very peculiar instance was given. My informant told me that
his coat of arms bears three Choughs and the night before his father
died two crows sat on the window sill of his father's bedroom, and it
was remarked that one of the three birds being absent foretold the death
which occurred next day.
A bird flying into a house foretells a death.
A white pigeon is a bird of ill omen, and if after hovering about it
alights on a house it is a token of the death of one of the inmates.
A hen crowing is a sign of death.
When swallows fly low it foretells rain.
The cuckoo comes in May. In June he changes his tune. In July he goes
away. In August away he must, for a cuckoo in September nobody can
remember.
It is said woodlarks are never found in Northamptonshire.
Larks rising very high and singing for a long time is a sign of fine
weather.
Kites flying aloft betokens fine weather.
Peacock's feathers, even now, are considered to bring bad luck into a
house.
When you see a heron flying the first time in the year put the tips of
your right thumb and the finger nearest the thumb together and form a
ring. Then wish and at the same time spit through the opening, and if
the spittle does not touch the hand the wish comes to pass. This, I
believe, is a strictly local custom, as there is a heronry in Milton
Park, about three miles from Peterborough.