House Sparrow Passer domesticus

The House Sparrow, an Almanac

• Older folk will not say the House Sparrow's name after dark, and have their reasons.
• Leave the House Sparrow a share of the cider apples, and it will leave you your best hen.
• It is beyond dispute, the vulgar notwithstanding, that its restlessness precedes a change of weather by the better part of a fortnight.
• It was once gravely held that its silence sits heavier on Gallows Hill than any churchyard bell.
• By the elder almanacs, the bird remembers a borrowed tool never returned long after the man who gave it is gone.

Folklore, invented on the spot — not to be believed.