270 



BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



teminted by that strange usurper the hermit-crab 



But our investigations are suddenly cut short. " Look out, 

 sir ! " shouts our puntsman ; "here come the Geese ! " and 

 in one moment we are aboard, and lying as flat as any 

 oyster. 



The following list of the local names by which the dif- 

 ferent wildfowl are known on parts of the north-east coast 

 may perhaps be interesting to the etymologist : — 



" Grey-lags." 

 . " Ware Geese." 

 . " Mallart." 



Grey Geese (generally) 



Brent Geese . 



:Mallard 



Wigeon 



Golden-eyes . 



Scaup Duck . 



Longtailed Duck 



Eider Duck . 



Scoter (Black Duck) 



Merganser . 



Northern Diver 



Red-throat Diver 



Grebes 



Coots . 



Guillemot 



Black Guillemot 



Cormorant 



Whimbrel 



Godwit. 



Oyster-catcher 



Turnstone 



Purple Sandpiper {&:c.) 



"Whews." 



" Wigeon." 



" Covie." 



" Jacky Forster." 



'' Culver." 



" Sea-hens." 



"Yarrell." 



"Nauk." 



''Lion." 



" Tommy Aliens." 



" Belpoots." 



" Willock." 



" Sea-pigeon." 



" Gormer." 



" Curlew-Jack." 



" Speethe." 



" Sea-pyot." 



" Brackett." 



" Tinkers." 



The pronunciation of the word YdrreU, when subjected to 

 the Northumbrian " burr," is well illustrated by the manner 

 in which my puntsman constantly writes the name thus : 

 " Yee-arle," an admirable example of phonetic orthography. 

 Curiously, the Geese are never spoken of except in the 

 plural. The word Goose is barred, and a single bird will be 

 described as " a lame Gccsc " ! 



