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Show scend into the pit until the following day. For example, In September, 1874. the following paragraph went the round of the papers: "On Monday morning large numbers of the miners employed at the Bed-worth Bed-worth collieries, In North Warwickshire, Warwick-shire, giving way to a superstition which has long prevailed among their class, refused to descend Into the pits In which they were employed. - "During Sunday night It was stated that the "seven whistlers' had been distinctly dis-tinctly heard in the neighborhood of Bedworth, and the result was that on the following morning many of the men positively refueed to descend into the pits." Morfa colliery. In South Wales, is no torlous for Its uncanny traditions The "seven whistlers" were heard there before be-fore a great explosion in the '60s. and before another In 1890, when nearly 100 miners were- entombed. In December, 1895. it was said that they had been heard yet again, whereupon the men struck work, and could not be Induced to resume it until the Government ln- 1 THE "SEVEN WHISTLEKS." In some parts of England peculiar whistling or yelping noises are heard In the air after dufk and early in the morning before daylight during the winter months. Sometimes, however, the noise is described as beautiful sounds like music, high up in the air, which gradually die away. The general belief is that the "seven whistlers." asthey are called, are the foretellers of bad luck, disaster or death to some one in the locality. It is a very ancient suggestion. Both swifts and plovers have been suggested as the whistlers. It may be noted that plovers art traditionally supposed to contain the souls of those who assisted at the crucifixion, and In consequence were doomed to float in the air forever. Really, the "whistlers" are widgeon, or teal, as they flit from their feeding grounds, a passage always .made under cover 6f darkness. , In Shropshire the sound Is described as resembling that of many" larks singing, and the folklore of both Shropshire and Worcestershire says: "They are seven birds, and the six fly about continually together looking for the. seventh, and when they find him the world will come to an end." Everywhere, without exception, the "seven whlaUers" are believed to presage pre-sage 111, but the superstition seems to be more particularly a miners' notion. If they hear the warning voice of the "seven whistlers," birds sent, as they ay, by Providence to- warn them of an Impending danger, 'not a man will de- |