PROVERBS ON BIRDS

PROVERBS ON BIRDS

 A beautiful bird is the only kind we cage-Chinese 

  A bird can roost but on one branch, a mouse can drink not more than its fill from a river-Chinese

  A bird does not change its feathers because the weather is bad-Nigerian

 A bird does not sing because he has the answer to something, he sings because he has a song-China

bird

 A bird in hand is worth ten in a tree-Yemeni  

v                      A bird in the cage is worth a hundred at large. Italian.

v                      A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush-Latin

v                      A bird in your hand is worth more than 100 in the forest-Chinese

  A bird is known by his feathers-Yiddish

              A bird is known by his note and a man by his talk-.Albanian

  A bird is recognized by her feathers, a man by his friend-Hungarian  

  A bird may be known by its flight-Russian 

 A bird may fly off the earth and land on an anthill, but it will still be on the ground-African

v                      A bird never flew on one wing-English

v                      A bird that allows itself to be caught will find a way of escaping-Cameroonian

  A cage made of gold does not feed the bird inside of it-Italian

v                       A chattering bird builds no nest-Cameroonian

  A crab does not beget a bird-Ghanaian

v                      A dead songbird gives us no meat-Chinese

 A fish and bird may fall in love but the two cannot build a home together-African  

v                      A golden cage does not feed the bird-Italian

  A good bird begins chirping while in the egg-Greek

  A good tree can lodge ten thousand birds-Burmese  

         A severely under paid hungry teacher in a renovated, well-equipped classroom,           can perform just as well as a bird without feathers can do in a hanging, decorated       cage-African 

v                    A sly bird is often caught by the two feet- Greek

v                    A tree on a hill is a meeting place for birds-Congo

A wayward woman is like the weaver bird. She uses her perch on one tree to scout other trees-Igbo  

v                    A wise bird has been caught with chaff-Indian (Tamil)

v                    All birds cannot be hawks, some are just cuckoos- Norwegian

v                    All clever men are birds of prey-English. 

v                   An early bird will hop farther- Czech

            An artful bird can be trapped in a rotten cage-Swahili

  As chicken is not a bird, woman is not a human being-Russian

v                    As good be an addled egg as an idle bird- English

  As the old birds sing, so the young ones twitter-German

             As though a bird had flown up from under your feet-Japanese

v                    Bad birds seldom bring good weather-Icelandic

v                    Better be a bird in the wood than one in the cage-Italian

v                    Better be a free bird than a captive king-Danish

v                    Better to be a free bird than a captive king-Danish

v                    Big thunder, little rain-English Bird goes up, bird goes down-Oman

                      Birds agree when flying down, but do not agree when flying up-Kikuyu  

                       Birds align with grain, but not with the stick-Omani  

                      Birds are caught with seed, men with money-Armenian

v                    Birds in their little nests agree-EnglishBirds of a colour flock together-Albanian

v                    Birds of a feather flock together- English

v                    Birds of prey do not sing-German

v                    Birds of the same colour fly to the same place-Welsh

v                    Birds will flock to a fruitful tree-Senegal

v                    Bread and bird: we don't discuss house business-Corsican

v              By coming and going, a bird weaves its nest-African

v                   Cherries are bitter to the glutted blackbird-French

v                   Clumsy birds have need of early flight-Chinese

v                     Dead song-birds make a sad meal-Chinese

  Do not scare the birds you are going to shoot-Malagasy

v                     Don't stop sowing just because the birds ate a few seeds-Danish

  Don't waste too many stones on one bird-Chinese  

  Early bird hops further-Czech

v                      Every bird as it is reared and the lark for the bog-Irish

v                     Every bird has a hawk above it-Croatian

Every bird is proud of its feathers-Maltese  

v                    Fine feathers make fine birds-English

  Fine feathers make fine birds-Dutch  

Flying birds have no master-French

 Go inquire of the other birds-Hawaiian

v                      God feeds the birds that use their wings-Danish

v                      God gives every bird its food but they must fly for it-Dutch

 God gives food to every bird, but does not throw it into the nest-Indian (Hindi)  

  He has gone in pursuit of the birds of the sea-Xhosa

  If a bird bills the rock then it trusts its beck-African

              If a bird does not recognise a tree, it will not rest on it-African 

  If a bird does not recognise a tree, it will not rest on it-African

              If a bird knew how poor he was it wouldn't sing so beautifully-Danish

v           If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come-Chinese

v                      If the bird hadn't sung, it wouldn't have been shot-Japanese

  If the building of a nest were easy, would the little "apatipers" bird roost in the fork of a tree?-Ghanaian

  If there is no reason, why would the tempua bird nest on the low branches? -Malay

v            If wishes were thrushes, beggars would eat birds-English

v                       If you have money, men think you are wise, handsome, and able to sing like a               bird-Jewish

 If your corn field is far from your home, the birds will eat your corn-Pygmy  

v                         In vain the net is spread in the sight of the bird-English

              It is little by little that a bird builds its nest-Nigerian  

 It is only a mad dog that barks at a flying bird-African  

              It is the discontented fish that envies the solely bird-African

v                       It is the softness of the lime that is fatal to the bird-Malagasy

v                       Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come-Chinese

v                       Little birds that can sing and won't sing must be made to sing-English

  Little by little, the bird builds her nest-Irish  

   Living at a river, one comes to know the nature of the fish therein; Dwelling by

mountain, one learns to recognize the language of the birds thereupon-Chinese

  No matter how high the bird flies, a hunter sets is trap on the ground-African

 No matter how long a bird lives in a cage, it will always want to escape-African  

 No one knows if a bird in flight has an egg in its stomach-African

v                      Nobody wants to meet an ill-omened bird-Spain 

 One cannot eat the meat of every bird-Turkish

               People live like birds in a wood: When the time comes, each takes flight-Chinese

  Persevere like a bird in the wind-Samoan  

 Slowly but surely, the bird builds its nest-Dutch 

  Small birds lay small eggs-Faroese  

  Small birds must have meat-English  

v                       Singing birds don't build nests-Cameroonian

 'so near and yet so far,' said the man when the bird lit on his gun-Irish

 Such bird, such egg-Romanian  

  The "obereku" bird should be eaten hot-Ghanaian  

 The bird flies high, but always returns to earth-Nigerian

 The bird is known by his note, the man by his words-English 

The bird loves her nest-Romanian 

 The bird that has eaten cannot fly with the bird that is hungry-Native American

 The bird, which flaps its wings too much, will drop its feathers-African 

  The caged bird dreams of clouds-Japanese

The clever bird is easily trapped in the leaves at the edges-Akan  

 The corpse of a bird does not decompose in flight, but on the ground-African 

 The first goes as a stake, the second as a falcon, and the third as a little bird-Russian 

 The nest of the blind bird is made by god-English 

  The prettiest birds are in a cage-Chinese

The restless grasshopper only finds rest in the gizzard of a bird-African

  The river does not swell with clear water-Italian

  The sweet flying ants will never be birds-African  

  The tulip is, among flowers, what the peacock is among birds. A tulip lacks scent, a peacock has an unpleasant voice. The one takes pride in its garb, the other in its tail-French

 The wise bird flies lowest-Irish  

v                          There are no birds in last year's nest-English

v                          There'll be white blackbirds before an unwilling woman ties the knot-Irish

      Thou art a bitter bird, said the raven to the starling-Romanian 

 Though the sky belongs to the bird it can't fly when it's raining-African

 To the satiated bird, cherries taste bitter-Mexican  

 Two birds disputed about a kernel, when a third swooped down and carried it off-Congolese

Two rich persons do not wish each other a bird of ill omen-Spanish

v                         What is sport to the boy is the death of the bird-Indian

 When a bird builds its nest it uses the feathers of other birds-South African

  When the cage is ready the bird is flown-French

v                         When the figs are ripe all the birds want to eat-Kenyan

 When there is shortage of figs, birds eat the fruits of the 'mugumo'-Kikuyu v   

v                         You can cage a bird but you can't make it sing-French

You can stop a bird from flying over you, but you can't stop it building a nest-Jamaican

      You cannot prevent the birds of sadness from passing over your head, but you             can prevent them from nesting in your hair-Swedish

 You cannot stop planting cereals just because birds are going to feast on them-African  

v              You can't keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from            building a nest in your hair-Albanian

You talk sweet like the bulbul bird-Afghan 

You haven't yet caught the bird, still you are already plucking her-Hungarian 

You may well have caught a bird, but have you a fire to roast it on? -Malagasy

 You can't prevent a bird from flying over your head, but you can prevent him from making a nest in your head-Jamaican