Nous la plumerons, l'alouette, Nous la plumerons, tout de long. (D. B., p. 124.) "We will pluck the lark, we will pluck it altogether." And it enumerates the bird's beak, eyes, head, throat, back, wings, tail, legs, feet, claws. A variation of the same chant is sung in Languedoc, where it is called _L'alouette plumée_, "the plucked lark," and is described as a game (M. L., p. 457). Again, the dividing up of the thrush forms the subject of a chant which is sung in Brittany in the north (L., I, p. 81), and in Languedoc in the south. It is called _Dépecer le merle_, and preserves the further peculiarity that the bird, although it is divided up, persists in singing. The version current in Languedoc begins:-- Le merle n'a perdut le bec, le merle n'a perdut le bec, Comment fra-t-il, le merle, comment pourra-t-il chanter? Emai encaro canto, le pauvre merle, merle, Emai encaro canto, le pauvre merlatou. (M. L., p. 458.) "The thrush has lost his beak, how will he manage to sing, and yet he sings, the poor thrush, yet he goes on singing." The chant then enumerates the bird's tongue, one eye, two eyes, head, neck, one wing, two wings, one foot, two feet, body, back, feathers, tail; always returning to the statement that the bird, although it is divided up, persists in singing. The French word _merle_ stands both for thrush and for blackbird. The blackbird is held in reverence among ourselves in Salop and Montgomeryshire, and blackbird-pie was eaten in Cornwall on Twelfth Night.[68] But there is no reference to the sacrificial slaying of the bird, as far as I am aware. In the French chant the bird continues to sing although it is killed. The same idea finds expression in our nursery song of _Sing a Song of Sixpence_. This piece, taken in conjunction with the eating of blackbird-pie in Cornwall and the French chants, seems to preserve the remembrance of the ancient bird sacrifice. The first verse of this rhyme appears in the collection of 1744, in which "naughty boys" stands for blackbirds. In other collections the piece runs as follows:-- Sing a song of sixpence, a bagful of rye, Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pye And when the pye was open'd, the birds began to sing; Was not this a dainty dish to set before the king? The king was in his parlour counting out his money, The queen was in the kitchen eating bread and honey, The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes, Up came a magpie and bit off her nose. (_c._ 1783, p. 26.) [68] Thomas, N. W., "Animal Superstitions" in _Folk-Lore_, September, 1900, p. 227. The magpie is "a little blackbird" in the version of Halliwell, which continues:-- Jenny was so mad, she didn't know what to do, She put her finger in her ear and cracked it right in two.