WOODPECKER— WREN 347 



Speight (large — Cotgrave), sprite (small), stockeikle, storm cock ; 

 Tabberer, tapper, tapperer ; Varfiler ; Wariangle, whetile, whit- 

 wall, wodake (A. S.), wodewall, wood-awl chuck hack hock knacker 

 knocker pie spack spite sprite sucker tapper wall or weale ; Yaffil 

 (Heref.), yaffingale, yaffle, yaffler, yappingale, yockel, yuckel 

 (Wilts). 



The green woodpecker is said to be almost extinct in Scotland, 

 another example of the survival of the fittest ; its name in Sanscrit 

 is "piki." The woodpecker, like the cuckoo, does not make a 

 nest of her own. 



WREN. — Ballan-oir, ball-oir (lit. gold spot), bigean, etc. ; 

 Conan, conan-coille, conan-conuisg (willow), conan-crion, crianag 

 or cricnag-ghiubhais (willow), crionag, crionag-bhuidhe, crionag 

 ceann-bhuidhe (golden-crested), crionan ; Drathan, drathan-donn, 

 dreadhan, drean, dreathan, dreathan-donn, dreathain, dreollan, 

 dreollin, drethein, driu (Welsh); Fridean-fionn, fridein; Guradnan ; 

 Troichilean (Ir. — willow). 



Bee-bird (willow), Bobby or Bobby-wren ; Crackety, crackil, 

 cuddian, cuddley (Devon), cut, cuttely, cutty or cutty-ran ; Doddy, 

 druid or druid-bird ; Giller, gilliver, golden-crested, ground- Isaac 

 or wren ; Hay-bird or tit (yellow), huck-muck, humming-bird ; 

 Jeannie (Keith), Jennie-crudle, Jenny ; Katie, Kitty ; Mary gold 

 finch, mite ; Our Lady's bird or hen ; Pale bird ; Ran, reed, 

 robin redbreast ; Sally, scutty, smouet (willow), stag ; Tiddy, 

 tidley, tintie, titty, todger, tomtit, tope ; Wrannie, wrannock, 

 wranny; Vran; Willow or willow warbler, w^ood ; Yellow wood wren. 



Said to mean literally " the lascivious bird." The Celtic word 

 or term *' drean," etc., is said to come from "draoi-eun," druid- 

 bird, the wren being said to be a healer and a prophet. This 

 word therefore accounts satisfactorily for our common saying, 

 "a little bird has told, or whispered it to me." In W^elsh the 

 word "dryw" signifies both a druid and a wren, while the bird's 

 nest is called the house of a druid. Also given as drea en, drea 

 or dear, small, and en, a bird. Much mystery attaches to this 

 little bird in the Highlands of Scotland, and elsewhere ; in the 

 Isle of Man it is, or was, hunted on St Stephen's day, which 

 some say points to a relic of Baal worship, others that this '"' round- 

 bird," is a female fairy enchantress. When so hunted and killed, 

 the unfortunate little sinner is carried round by the hunters who 

 sing, "we hunted the wren for Robert the Bobbin, we hunted the 

 wren for Jack o' the can, we hunted the wren for Robert the 

 Bobbin, we hunted the wren for every one." This is, or was, 

 also done in Ireland, at least politically, as they (the wrens) are 

 said to have given the alarm to Cromwell by pecking or tapping 

 on the drums, and thus gave notice to him of the approach of the 

 Irish army, hence the hatred by the Irish to this bird. 



As to this hunting it is alleged now to be largely without 



