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thinks it is a false form evolved from g7ice, as if that had been taken to be the 
plural, like ‘‘ mouse,” ‘‘ mice.” Hemipode is obviously ‘‘ half-footed,” from the 
Greek, because the hind-toe is wanting. Jay is the “gay” bird, from its gay 
plumage and chattering ways; ‘‘gay ” originally meant ‘“‘full-of go.” Oriole is 
from the Latin: aureolus, the ‘‘golden” bird; the French loriot was formerly 
Voriol, the article having become agglutinated, just as ‘‘ newt” is ‘‘an ewt,” or 
‘an eft.” Phalarope means “‘ coot-footed,” from the Greek gadapis, a coot, and 
mows, 2 foot, on account of its feet being similarly lobed, not fully webbed. Puffin 
is from the “‘puffed-out” appearance of its beak. Ruff is ordinarily said to allude 
to the ‘‘ ruffle” of feathers round the neck of the male in the breeding season ; but 
as the female is called a Reeve, Prof. Skeat thinks that the name comes from 
some different source, indicated by the vowel-change. Serin is French, from the 
Latin citrinus, ‘‘citron-coloured.” Shag means rough hair, probably in allusion 
to its crest. Sheldrake is the ‘‘ variegated ” or ‘‘ spotted ” drake, either because it 
is ornamented with ‘‘shields” of colour, or from its being ‘‘ tortoise-shelled,” 
marked like tortoise-shell, as it certainly is, like a “‘tortoise-shell cat.” Stint is 
the little or ‘‘ stunted” sandpiper. Stork is probably from its stalking on “‘stalks” 
or lengthened legs. Tit is literally ‘‘ something small,” and not onomatopeic. Tit- 
lark is, consequently, the ‘‘ small lark.” Titmouse is compounded of “‘tit” and 
the Anglo-Saxon mdse, which means various small birds ; ‘‘ mouse” comes from 
a totally different root, and means ‘“‘ the stealing animal ;” so that the plural of 
‘¢ Titmouse ” should be ‘‘ Titmouses,” not ‘‘ Titmice.” : 
Names descriptive of habits are very numerous. The meaning of many is suffi- 
ciently obvious, such as Brambling or Bramble-finch, Chaffinch, Courser, Creeper, 
Dabchick, Dipper, Diver, Fieldfare (the bird that “‘ fares ” or travels in the fields, 
as in ‘‘ thoroughfare ”), Goatsucker (from a superstition which certainly did not 
originate from actual observation), Hawfinch (where ‘‘haw” is ahedge ‘‘hawthorn” 
being ‘‘hedgethorn”), Moorhen, Nightjar, Nutcracker, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, 
Sanderling (the little dweller on the sands), Sandpiper, Sand Grouse, Shearwater, 
Shoveller, Swift, Turnstone, Wagtail, Whinchat, Stonechat, and Woodchat, 
Windhover, Woodcock and Woodpecker. Bullfinch is probably connected with 
the French name bouvreuil which is from the Latin bovariolus, diminutive of 
bovarius, “the little neatherd ;” just as the Wagtail is in French bergeronette, 
‘the little shepherdess ;” the idea of ‘‘ bull” here meaning anything “big” is 
as unlikely as it is in ‘“‘bulrush. Dotterel is the bird that ‘‘ dotes,” the ‘“‘little 
stupid,” from the ease with which :t is deceived and caught; in Icelandic dotta 
is to nod with sleep. Dove is the bird that “‘ dives” through the air ; a strangely 
parallel instance is the fact that the Latin columba, a dove, is akin to the Greek 
Ko\uBts, a diver. Duck is the bird that ‘‘ ducks” or dives its head under water. 
But Drake is an altogether different word ; it is contracted from ened-rake or end- 
rake, a masculine form of the Anglo-Saxon ened, a duck. In Swedish, and is a 
duck, and anddrake is a drake; in German, ente is a duck, enterich, a drake ; the 
first part of the word being from the stem of the Latin anas (anat-), a duck, and 
the suffix is allied to the Gothic reiks, ruling, mighty, and to -ric in ‘‘ bishop- 
ric.” So that Drake means “‘ duck-king.” Fulmar is akin to ‘‘ foumart,” a pole- 
