Jaybird Died With the Whooping Cough

DESCRIPTION: "Jaybird died with the whoopingcough, Sparrow died with the colic, On came a frog with a fiddle on his back, Inquiring the way to the frolic." Other verses tell other stories about the lives of other birds, or perhaps predators or other animals
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: bird death disease nonballad | blue jay whooping cough
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 153, "The Jaybird" (4 short texts, of which "B" and "C" are this piece; "D" is "The Jaybird"; "A" mixes the two)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 187, "Jaybird Died With the Whooping Cough" (1 text, 1 tune)
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 105, "Jaybird" (1 text)
Harbin-Parodology, #19, p. 13, "The Jay-Bird Song or Chant" (1 short text, which looks like it was inspired by this although only a fragment)
Roud #748
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Buckeye Jim" (lyrics)
cf. "Old Cow Died of Whooping Cough" (theme)
NOTES [43 words]: Internet sources report that whooping cough is a human disease which cannot be transmitted to and from animals (let alone birds), but that there are conditions which can result in a mammal coughing in a similar way. I've never heard a bird cough, though. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: Br3153A

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