2°<i S. N« 113., Feb. 27. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



167 



also " frequents the moist meadows in the inland 

 parts of England remote from the sea." It is 

 stated by Orbigny {Diet. dHist. Nat.), that gulls 

 " s'avancent quelquefois bien avant dans les terres. 

 . . . . M. Gerbe rapport que, lorsqu'il neige, des 

 bandes des mouettes vont se porter dans les cam- 

 pagnes, quoiqu'il fasse calme plat en mer." These 

 unaccountable movements of the "mouettes" 

 evidently excited the curiosity of M. Gerbe ; for 

 he asks, " A quoi attribuer ces excursions ? " Nay, 

 we find it recorded in Buffon that in 1775 a large 

 troop of the Kittywake, a species of gull, appeared 

 unexpectedly at Semur in Auxois, where they 

 were utterly unknown, remained a fortnight, and 

 then as suddenly disappeared. 



But as tidif is read by us tide-vri^e, it may be 

 proper to remark, in particular, that the wander- 

 ings of the gull have been very generally observed 

 to vary with the tides, both high tides and low tides. 

 The common gull " is seen in vast numbers on 

 the Thames in Spring and Winter, picking up the 

 small fish, worms, &c., left hj the tide " (Donovan). 

 This appearance of the gulls on the flat shores of 

 the Thames, depending day by day on the time of 

 low water, and therefore daily occurring at a 

 different hour, might well combine with their suc- 

 cessive variations of plumage, to acquire for the 

 class a character of changeableness ; and as it has 

 also been remarked by Buffon, that the gulls on 

 certain rivers follow the rising tide ("suivent sur 

 les rivieres la maree montante "), we can easily 

 understand why, their noisy arrival being always 

 remarked at the hour, whatever hour it might be, 

 when the flood tide came in, they should be hailed 

 among the 'longshore people by the name of " tide- 

 vnves." But similar habits of the gulls may be 

 noticed on the coasts of England. Off Ramsgate 

 they may be sometimes remarked on the wing, 

 when the tide is high, within a stone's throw of 

 the pierhead, cruising to and fro, uttering their 

 peculiar cry, and occasionally wheeling in amongst 

 the masts of the craft in port. I have marked 

 with pleasure their dashing but graceful flight 

 and bullet-like plunge, when the breeze has been 

 fresh, and the harbour brimming. A few hours 

 after, not a gull was to be seen. 



But whatever concurring evidence of this kind 

 may be cited, to connect with the gull or sea-mew 

 the idea of changeableness, such as their move- 

 ments varying with the tides, their sudden ap- 

 pearance and disappearance in particular localities, 

 the migratory habits of some classes of gulls, &c., 

 the point which Chaucer appears to have mainly 

 had in view in imputing fickleness to the tidif, is 

 its frequent change of plumage. For, as already 

 remarked, Chaucer cites three instances of fickle- 

 ness together, " tidifes, tercelettes, and owles ; " 

 and in " tercelettes and owles," as well as in " ti- 

 difes," there is something to be observed touching 

 their change of coat. 



Respecting the iercelet (hawk or falcon,) Pen- 

 nant writes, " We are here to observe that much 

 caution is to be used in describing the hawk kind 

 [he takes falcons, British eagles, and hawks to- 

 gether], no birds being so liable to change their 

 colors the two or three first years of their lives. 

 Inattention to this has caused the number of hawks 

 to be multiplied far beyond the reality;" so that 

 " the falcon, the f. gentil, and the haggard, are 

 made distinct species, whereas they form only 

 one." We might show, moreover, by further ci- 

 tations from Pennant, did time and space permit, 

 that variety in respect to plumage especially pre- 

 vails in certain species of this bird which were, 

 above others, in requisition ior falconry, and which 

 therefore would be all the more likely to come under 

 Chaucer s notice : for example, in the gyr-falcon, 

 which was employed in falconry for the highest 

 game, cranes and herons, and with which the 

 poet's fickle tercelet is probably identical, a bird 

 sometimes coloured and spotted, sometimes white. 

 As for " owles," the brown owl and the tawny 

 owl, though one and the same in different coats, 

 have, according to Pennant, been pictured as two 

 distinct species. 



Such apparently are the grounds, though it is 

 uAdeniable that other classes of birds are more or 

 less liable to similar changes, on which the poet, 

 in the play of his fancy, associates these three de- 

 scriptions of " foules," " tidifes, tercelettes, and 

 owles," in a charge of fickleness. 



One word more. Buffon remarks that all the 

 "goelands" and "mouettes" (gulls greater and 

 less) are " criards." This accords with the testi- 

 mony of Willughby, who says that "gulls in 

 general" are " clamorous," and one sort " extraor- 

 dinarily clamorous.^' Nay, they are described, 

 when disturbed in their breeding haunts, as per- 

 fect scolds, clamouring as if to drive intruders 

 away. Can it be imagined — is it possible? — that 

 our progenitors were so ungallant as to confer on 

 the noisy creatures the name of tidifes, or tide- 

 ivives, with any reference to their scolding ? Is it 

 conceivable that our forefathers intended to place 

 tide-wives in the same category as apple-wives, 

 fish-wives, &c. ? It is Sonnini who tells us what 

 gulls are called in Carolina, U. States, — " old 

 wives!" Thomas Boys. 



P.S. The writer acknowledges with thanks some 

 valuable information which has been privately 

 forwarded to him, on the subject of the silver 

 Cristofre (2°^ S. iv. 450.). The communication 

 in question, as well as any others with which he 

 may be favoured, shall be duly noticed when the 

 present series on the "Difliculties of Chaucer" ia 

 brought to a conclusion. 



