20 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



this species figures very little in English folk-lore. Mr. 

 Thiselton Dyer (" English Folklore ") in fact finds nothing 

 to say about it, and Swainson hardly anything. The 

 allusion in both Aristotle and Pliny to this bird changing 

 with the season from black to rufous, is evidently based on 

 a misapprehension as to the sexes, the rufous-brown plumage 

 being that of the female. It is a popular belief that w^hen 

 these birds are imusually shrill, or sing much in the morning, 

 rain Avdll follow^ Swainson also gives this as an Irish belief, 

 while in Meath it is said that " when the Blackbird sings 

 before Christmas she will cry before Candlemas." 



Black-bonnet: The REED-BUNTING. (Scotland.) So called 

 from its conspicuous black head. The name seems also to 

 have been appHed to the BLACKCAP. 



Black-breasted Plover : The GOLDEN PLOVER. (Ireland.) 



Black-breasted Redstart: The BLACK REDSTART. 

 (Macgillivray . ) 



Black-breasted Sandpiper : The DLTNLIN. (Macgilli\Tay.) 



Black Brent Goose. See BRENT GOOSE. 



BLACK-BROWED ALBATROS [No. 335]. An inhabitant of 

 the Southern Seas, which has once been obtained in Cam- 

 bridgeshire (in 1897). The name albatros (according to the 

 English Cyclopaedia) is " a word apparently corrupted b}'^ 

 Dampier from the Portuguese alcatraz, w^hich was applied 

 by the early na\igators of that nation to Cormorants and 

 other sea-birds." 



BLACKCAP [No. 146]. More often called the Blackcap 

 Warbler. Occurs in W'illughby (1678). The name is also 

 applied to many other species which have the cap or 

 summit of the head black, i.e. the COAL-TITMOUSE, 

 MARSH-TITMOUSE, GREAT TITMOUSE. REED- 

 BL^TING, STONECHAT, BULLFINCH and BLACK- 

 HEADED GULL. The present species is the " Atricapilla 

 seu Ficedula " of Aldrovandus. 

 Black-capped Billy: The GREAT TITMOUSE. (West 



Riding, Yorks.) 

 Black-capped Lolly. A North Country name for the GREAT 



TITMOUSE. 

 Black-capped Titmouse : The MARSH-TITMOUSE. (Bewick.) 

 I^lack-capped Warbler : The BLACKCAP. (MacgilUvray.) 

 IJlack-chinned Grebe: The LITTLE GREBE. Foimd in 

 Pennant, Latham, Montagu, etc., as a supposed distinct 

 species from the Hebrides. It is also a Berkshire name for 

 the species. 



