SIBILOUS — SKY. 



217 



Skip-hegrie. a name for the HERON. (Montagu.) 



Skirl or Skirl Cock : The MISTLE-THRUSH. (Derbyshire.) 

 An equivalent of Shrill. 



Skirl Crake: The TURNSTONE. (Shetlands.) From its 

 shrill cry. 



Skirr : The ARCTIC TERN, COMMON TERN and LITTLE 

 TERN. (Ireland.) 



Skite: The yellow bunting. (Aberdeen.) Skite=to mute. 



Skitter-brottie : The CORN-BUNTING. (Orkneys.) Swain- 

 son thinks it is from its resorting to corn-stacks in winter : 

 skiiR being to mute, and hrothies, the cross-ropes of the roof 

 of a stack. 



SkittyCock orSKiTTY Coot: The WATER-RAIL. (Devonshire, 

 Cornwall, Somersetshire) : from " skit "=to slide. Also the 

 SPOTTED CRAKE (Devonshire) and the MOORHEN 

 (Somersetshire). 



Skooi or Shooi : The ARCTIC SKUA. (Shetlands.) From its cry. 



Skout. See Scout. 



Skrabe : The MANX SHEARWATER. (BcAvick, Montagu.) 

 See also Scraber. 



Skua or Skua Gull : The GREAT SKUA. Also others of the 

 Skuas ; from the cry. 



Skuttock or Skiddaw : The CO:\DION GUILLEMOT. (East 

 Lothian and Northumberland.) From skite=io mute. 



SKY-LARK [No. 62]. Foimd in Willughby (1678) who terms 

 it " Skie-Lark," Turner (1544) merely calling it " Lerk." 

 Albin has Sky Lark : Pennant (1766) and later authors call 

 it Skylark. In ^lid. Eng. the name lark occurs as larke 

 and laverock : from A.Sax. Idiverce, lavercp, most probably 

 for lcewwerca=tTaitoT or guilew^orker. The reason why 

 one of the most cherished of British birds should have 

 received so bad a name at the hands of our Saxon forefathers 

 seems somewhat obscure. It is considered an auspicious 

 token in Orkney, Avhere it is known as " Our Lady's hen " 

 (Dalyell). It is a popular belief that if larks fly high and 

 sing"^ long, fine weather may be expected (Inwards). 

 Chambers (" Popular Rhymes of Scotland") gives a curious 

 rhyming version of the lark's song as follows : — 

 Up in the lift go we, 

 Tehee, tehee, tehee, tehee ! 

 There's not a shoemaker on the earth 

 Can make a shoe to me, to me ! 

 Why so, why so, why so ? 

 Because ray heel is as long as my toe. 

 The reference in the last line is to the bird's long hind claw. 



