166 DICTIONAKY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



NiAS or Nyas. a falconer's term for nestling-Hawks. Derived 

 from Fr. niais, from Low Lat. Nidax. In English it is 

 generally found corrupted into " Eyas " or " Ej-ess." 



XlCKA-PECKER, XlCKER-PECKER, or NiCICLE : The GREEN 



WOODPECKER. (Notts.) 



NicoL or Jack Nico : The GOLDFINCH. (North Wales.) 



NiGHTBTRD : The MOORHEN. (Sussex.) From its dark 

 plumage. The name is also given to the MANX SHEAR- 

 WATER about Skellig Island, because it is only seen at 

 night about the rock. 



Night-Churr : The NIGHTJAR. (Pro\ancial.) From its noc- 

 turnal habits and the churring noise it utters. 



Night-Crow : The NIGHTJAR. (Yorkshire, Northants., Corn- 

 wall.) 



Night Hawk : The NIGHTJAR. (Fleming, Selby.) It is a 

 common English provincial name for the species. 



NIGHT-HERON [No. 266]. The name seems to occur first in 

 Peimant's " Arctic Zoology " (vol. ii. No. 356), the yoimg 

 being described in the same work as " Gardenian Heron." 

 This appears to be the bird anciently kno^^n as the Night 

 Raven, under which name it is figm'ed in Albin (1738). 

 Willughby, who terms the species the Lesser Ash-Coloured 

 Heron, says it is called by the Germans Night Raven, 

 " because in the night-time it cries with an uncouth voice." 

 The scientific name Nycticorax also signifies Night Raven. 

 Under the heading of the " Bittour or Bittern," however, 

 Willughby writes: "This without doubt is that bird our 

 common people call the Night Raven, and have such a dread 

 of, imagining its cry portends no less than their death, or 

 the death of some of their near relations : for it flies in the 

 night, answers their description of being like a flagging 

 collar, and hath such a kind of whooping cry as they talk 

 of." Goldsmith (".Ajiimated Nature") confirms this by 

 relating of the Bittern that he remembered " with what 

 terror the bird's note affected the whole \dllage." Spenser 

 also alludes to " the hoarse night raven, trompe of doleful 

 dreere." The reference ma^^ of course, be to the night- 

 like plumage of the RAVEN. 



NIGHTINGALE [No. 180]. The name of this piime favourite 

 among song-birds signifies literally " singer of the night," 

 it being the A. Sax. nihtegale (fr. niht^night and gale=a, 

 singer). Prof. Skeat says the middle n is excrescent. The 

 name is foimd in Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales " : Turner 

 (1544) wites it " Nyght;^Tigall," while Merrett (1667) and 



