32 BRITISH BIRDS. vol. vn. 



The " Terms denoting Associations of Birds," given on 

 p. 8 of the work now under re\dew, might conveniently have 

 been made the subjects of cross-reference, if indeed the 

 information here given would not have been more suitably 

 placed under the individual species. In any case the list 

 is meagre, and might have been extended by reference to 

 The Bohe of Saint Allans, 1486 (quoted by Daniel, JRural 

 Sports, Vol. II., 1812, p. 480), or to the correspondence on the 

 subject in the columns of the Field (1912), October 19th, p. 770 ; 

 November 2nd, p. 869 ; and November 16th, p. 1015. 



In his " Preface " the author states of his Dictionary that 

 " to say that even as now published it is complete, would be 

 claiming too much for it, since with such a vast field open 

 to research, both in literature and dialect, the possibilities 

 of addition and correction are still very great." The work 

 has been so carefully compiled that the Author's apology 

 seems almost unnecessary ; still there are a few statements 

 on which comment may here be made. The name Gunner 

 is allotted to the Great Northern Diver, and no mention is 

 made of the fact that it is often applied to the Yellowhammer. 

 Stockannet as a name for the Sheld-Duck is not confined to 

 East Scotland. There is no mention of the term Black to 

 denote Blackgame, in common use on the eastern Borders ; 

 nor is the name Dyker or Dykie given as a well-kno^\'n name 

 for the Wheatear in the South-west of Scotland. It might 

 have been stated that from the sedate way in which 

 Cormorants sit at the edge of the ebbing tide they have been 

 likened to " Elders of the Kirk," and that this is the reason 

 for the species being called Cow'en (Colvend), and Mochrum, 

 Elders on the Scottish shore of the Solway. The name Cowdaw 

 for Jackdaw, used in Norfolk and Suffolk, may be added on 

 the authority of Sir William Jardine. Under Stankhen or 

 Stankie for the Moorhen, it is stated that " Stank is almost 

 an equivalent of moat " ; the similitude of this term to the 

 French etang and the Latin stagnum, a still pond or pool, 

 is surely even as worthy of note. 



The above remarks have not been written with the idea 

 of disparaging a work which reflects high credit on its author ; 

 his Dictionary will be of the utmost value to all ornithological 

 and philological students, and he is to be congratulated on 

 so faithfully completing a work which must have demanded 

 of him an enormous amount of time and patience. 



Hugh S. Gladstone. 



