176 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



variation of the stor5^ Whitney, in his " Choice of Em- 

 blems," gives a woodcut illustration of a bird like an eagle 

 piercing her breast Avith her hooked bill, surrounded by the 

 young in the nest whose mouths are open to receive the 

 blood ; the lines below being : — 



The pellican, for to revive her younge, 



Doth pierce her breast, and geve them of her blood. 



This fable in fact served as a symbol of Christ's love to 

 men, and with the substitution of a real Pelican for the 

 bird, it exists to the present day in ecclesiastical art. What 

 species of bird the eagle or vulture of Whitney and other 

 old writers may be is uncertain, but there is little doubt 

 indeed that the substitution of the Pelican for the other 

 bird in the fable is due to the erroneous idea that the name 

 indicated the Pelican and not some other species. In 

 fact attempts have been made to account for the legend 

 by explaining that the Pelican feeds its young with the 

 fish from its pouch, and that during the process the red 

 Tiail or tip of the lower mandible, pressing against the 

 breast, might lead an observer to suppose that the bird was 

 piercing its own breast. Bartlett (-' Land and Water," April 

 3rd, 1869) made an ingenious attempt to lay the origin of 

 the fable upon the Flamingo, which he says disgorges a 

 blood-like fluid. The Pelican is not a British bird, although 

 several doubtful records of the Great ^Vhite Pelican 

 (P. onocrotalus) in our islands are extant. 



Pellile : The REDSHANK. (Aberdeen.) Erom its cry. 



Pen: The female of the MUTE SWAN. (See Cob.) 



Penddu. a Welsh name for the BLACKCAP ; lit. " black 

 head." 



Pendew: The HAWFINCH. (North Wales) lit. "thick 

 head." 



Pengoch : The LESSER REDPOLL. (North Wales) lit. " red 

 poll." Bengoch is an equivalent form. 



Penguin : The GREAT AUK. Found in Ray's " S^Tiopsis," 

 also in Willughby, Edwards, and other early writers ; Ht. 

 " Pin-wing." According to Nelson and Clarke " Pen wings " 

 is an old Redcar (Yorkshire) name for the species. 



Penloyn: The GREAT TITMOUSE and the COAL- 

 TITMOUSE. (North Wales) lit. " black head." 



Penloyn-y-gors. a Welsh name for the MARSH-TITMOUSE ; 

 lit. " marsh coal head." 



Penny-bird. ;^n Irish name for the LITTLE GREBE. (Lough 

 Morne ana Carrickfergus.) 



