150 PICID^E. 



Oriole, including in his synonymes the Greek word Chlo- 

 rion, also in reference to colour, and the German names 

 Wittwol and Weidwail ; but remarking that he had never 

 seen this bird in England, though he had seen it very often 

 in Germany. Galbula, another term applied to the Golden 

 Oriole, is in Ainsworth's Dictionary, " a bird which we 

 call a "Whittall, or Woodwall, Mart." Galbula is a dimi- 

 nutive from galbus, signifying yellow. Kilian interprets 

 the Belgic word " weed wael" as galgulus (avis eadem que 

 galbula, Plin.) avis lurida, oriolus. He also refers to the 

 German word " wette wal," or " weet wal," which is ap- 

 plied to the Gold Amsell, or Yellow Thrush, two other 

 names for the Golden Oriole. Although these references 

 would seem to identify the Golden Oriole as the Woodwele, 

 yet the remark of Dr. Turner, and our own knowledge of 

 the rarity of the Golden Oriole in England, afford strong 

 presumptive evidence that the " "Woodwele singing from 

 the spray," the bird which woke Robin Hood, could not 

 have been the Golden Oriole. A ballad writer, wishing of 

 course to be generally understood, would introduce some 

 bird of familiar occurrence. Harduin translates vireo into 

 verdier, which, according to Buffon, is the Greenfinch ; and 

 Ainsworth gives Greenfinch as a translation of vireo. The 

 Greenfinch certainly does not sing very loud, but your free- 

 booters are probably very light sleepers. In an English 

 and German Dictionary, composed chiefly from Johnson 

 and Adelung, the word corresponding to Woodwall is 

 Grunspecht, which, as before noticed, is our Green Wood- 

 pecker. There seems to be no doubt that the colour of the 

 Woodwele was greenish yellow, and this name, with its 

 various modifications, may therefore apply to the Green 

 Woodpecker, the Golden Oriole, or the Greenfinch. The 

 objections to the Green Woodpecker are, that his notes 

 can scarcely in poetical licence be called a song ; and, 



