a By the Rev. Canon Jackson, F.S.A. 285 
something of the same kind], “and the duck came out just above 
Kingston Deverel.” In such cases the unfortunate duck is generally 
said to come out without any feathers on its back, and that would 
eertainly be the case with it, after traversing two or three miles in 
an almost imperceptible passage between the strata of the chalk 
from Norton Ferrers to Kingston Deverel.! 
(A map was exhibited showing the particular place and geological 
structure of the neighbourhood ) 
Of course, if the duck experiment ever was tried, there can be no 
doubt that it is one and the same rivulet that goes in and comes 
out. The general slope of the land at that place is such that if the 
water ran out of the pond on the surface, it could not possibly run 
in any other direction than towards Kingston Deverell, so I have 
no doubt that it runs that way under the surface. But whether it 
really takes its name from that circumstance is rather doubtful. 
Against it is the fact that in Dorsetshire, just above Milborne 
St Andrew, there is another rivulet Deveril, which does not go 
underground. As to the word rill (from the Latin rivuwlus), I do 
not know whether it is found in use so far back as we find the name 
Devrel; for this name occurs nine times in Domesday Book, as a 
_ general name for the land on the banks of this rivulet, without any 
mention of Longbridge, Hill, or Kingston, all of which seem to 
have been distinctive names added later. Some of our learned 
 etymologists think that Devrel is a Welsh word, “ dwr,” “ dur,” 
_ “dever” (water), the diminutive “el” being added, the whole 
meaning “little river.” To this derivation I rather incline: and 
am accordingly of opinion that the name should be spelled Devere?. 
It is certainly a curious coincidence that it should be a rill that dives. 
; The Deverel stream however is not the only source of the Wyly. 
There is another equally, if not more, copious spring that feeds the 
lake called Shearwater. Of this name there are two explanations. 
One is, “clear,” or “ bright,” from the Anglo-Saxon word “ seir,” 
and certainly nothing better deserves the name than the water in 
1Jn the case of the ‘‘ Arethusa,” it is said that a golden cup, put in by an 
SOivmpian victor at Elis, came out in Sicily. (Note to Erasmus’ Colloquies, p.727.) 
