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“snapper,” allied to the old Dutch schnebbe, the beak, as the “nib” of a pen is 
allied to ‘‘snap.” Sparrow is the ‘‘ wanton bird,” from a root meaning “to 
swell.” Stockdove is the dove that breeds in the ‘‘stocks” or trunks of trees, 
not among the branches. Swallow is the ‘‘tosser,” or mover to and fro in its 
flight, like the “‘swell” of the sea; it is not from the same root as the verb “to 
swallow.” Teal is from the root of ‘‘ till,” like the Dutch telen, to breed, culti- 
vate ; teling is Dutch for a generation, production, as well as for the bird ; Prof. 
Skeat says ‘‘the original sense was merely ‘a brood’ or ‘a flock,’ and its use as a 
specific form was accidental; we still use ‘teal’ as a plural form ;” similarly 
‘*bird” is ‘‘broodling.” Vulture is the ‘‘tearer,” from the root of the Latin 
vul-si, I plucked, tore. 
Names of birds that bear some reference to man are a little hard to explain. 
Colin, the little quail from Virginia, is nicknamed after a French pet form of 
Nicholas. Guillemot is from the French Guillaume, as the provincial name 
Willock is from William. In Mag-pie, Mag is short for Maggie, a familiar form 
of Margaret, like the French Margot, which also means a Magpie. In France, a 
Magpie is generally called Jacques, and jacasser is to chatter like a Magpie. We 
have the same in Jack-daw, and probably in Jack-snipe also. Martin is named 
after St. Martin. French abounds in such names, e.g., Sansonnet, a Starling, is a 
diminutive from ‘Sanson, for Samson; Jacquot is a parrakeet ; Parrot and Parra- 
keet (French perroquet), are both from Pierre, Peter, just as our Petrel is, though 
there it is in allusion to its walking, like St. Peter, on the waves. Sailors call petrels 
“* Mother Carey’s chickens,” which is said to be corrupted from the Portuguese 
madre cara, the French oiseaux de Notre Dame. Shakspere (King John, i., 231) 
calls the Sparrow Phillip, and the name is at least as old as Chaucer; the French 
call it Pierrot, little Peter. Our Robin is the pet form of Robert ; just as we talk 
of the Tomtit, and the Jenny or Kitty Wren. Prof. Skeat says Lark means 
‘worker of craft,” and thinks the name points to some superstition which regarded 
the bird as of ill omen. 
My last category contains names of birds which we have inherited from the 
Romans or Greeks. Buzzard comes through the French buse, from the Latin 
buteo. Bustard is a corruption of avis tarda, but it is improbable that tarda here 
means ‘‘slow,” for Pliny quotes it as the Spanish name, so it is likely to be Celtic 
originally. Crane is a widely disseminated form of the Greek yépavos; its Welsh 
name garan refers to its ‘‘shanks,” akin to the English “‘ garter.” Eagle is the 
Latin aquila, through the French aigle. Gannet is akin to Gander, and likewise 
to the root of the German gans, Latin anser, Greek x7. Kestrel has been ingeni- 
ously traced by Prof. Skeat,* he kindly informs me in a recent letter, to the Latin 
for a Teal, querquedula; this became in old French quercelle, now cercelle, or 
sareelle; its diminutive quercerelle easily became contracted to kere’relle, and 
thence became kestrel ; the French cresserelle is obviously corrupted from cercer- 
elle. Merle, a Blackbird, is the French form of the Latin merula. Partridge 
* The Academy, October 7, 1882, p. 262. 
