"First-foot" superstitions flourish in the north of England and in Scotland. In the northern counties a man is often specially retained as "first-foot" or "lucky bird"; in some parts he must be a bachelor, and he is often expected to bring a present with him--a shovelful of coals, or some eatable, or whisky.{17} In the East Riding of Yorkshire a boy called the "lucky bird" used to come at dawn on Christmas morning as well as on New Year's Day, and bring a sprig of evergreens{18}--an offering by now thoroughly familiar to us. In Scotland, especially in Edinburgh, it is customary for domestic servants to invite their sweethearts to be their "first-foots." The old Scotch families who preserve ancient customs encourage their servants to "first-foot" them, and grandparents like their grandchildren to perform for them the same service.{19} In Aberdeenshire it is considered most important that the "first-foot" should not come empty-handed. Formerly he carried spiced ale; now he brings a whisky-bottle. Shortbread, oat-cakes, "sweeties," or sowens, were also sometimes brought by the "first-foot," and occasionally the sowens were sprinkled on the doors and windows of the houses visited--a custom strongly suggesting a sacramental significance of some sort.{20} Before we leave the subject of British "first-footing" we may notice one or two things that have possibly a racial significance. Not only must the "first-foot" be a man or boy, he is often required to be dark-haired; it is unlucky for a fair- or red-haired person to "let in" the New Year.{21} It has been suggested by Sir John Rhys that this idea rested in the first instance upon |326| racial antipathy--the natural antagonism of an indigenous dark-haired people to a race of blonde invaders.{22} Another curious requirement--in the Isle of Man and Northumberland--is that the "first-foot" shall not be flat-footed: he should be a person with a high-arched instep, a foot that "water runs under." Sir John Rhys is inclined to connect this also with some racial contrast. He remarks, by way of illustration, that English shoes do not as a rule fit Welsh feet, being made too low in the instep.{23}