ASH-COLOURED BAILLCXN'S. 9 



connection with awkward, or aukward, signifying unhandy 

 or contraryvvard, the prefix auk or awk being from the 

 Icel. afig or ofg. The name Auk appears formerly to have 

 more properly belonged to the RAZORBILL; Willughby 

 gives it as the North of England name for that species, 

 and Sibbald mentions the RAZORBILL by the name 

 of Auk (see GREAT AUK), as also does Pennant (1766). 

 Swainson gives Auk as an Orkney name for the COMMON 

 GUILLEMOT. 

 Australian Gallinule. Examples of this species recorded as 



British are regarded as escaped birds. 



AUSTRIAN PRATINCOLE: The PRATINCOLE. (Montagu.) 

 AVOCET [No. 401]. Also spelt Avoset. Der. from the 

 Ferrarese Avosetta or Avocetta, probably literally a graceful 

 bird (dim. of Lat. avis). The name occurs in Willughby 

 (1678) as the " Avosetta of the Italians." It is called 

 Scooper (q.v.) by Charleton (1668), Avosetta by Pennant 

 (1766), while Montagu and others call it Scooping Avoset ; 

 Yarrell also calls it Avoset. 



AWL-BIRD : The AVOCET. So called from the shape of the 

 bill, resembling an awl. From A. Sax. awel, Mid-Eng. aul, 

 eawl, an awl or pointed instrument for piercing. Also 

 applied to the GREEN WOODPECKER ; Montagu gives 

 it as a provincial name for that species. 



BAAGIE or BAIGIE. A Shetland name for the GREAT BLACK- 

 BACKED GULL. 



BABBLER: The GREAT REED- WARBLER. From its noisy song. 



BABBLING WARBLER. A provincial name for the LESSER 

 WHITETHROAT. (Macgillivray . ) 



BABILLARD : The LESSER WHITETHROAT. (Montagu, " Orn. 

 Diet.," ed. Rennie, 1831.) Rennie adapted the name from 

 the French, as pointed out by Newton, and it does not 

 seem to have been in use colloquially, although given 

 by Macgillivray as a provincial name. 



BADOCK : The ARCTIC SKUA ; also GREAT SKUA (Swainson). 



BAD WILLY: The COMMON GUILLEMOT. 



Baer's Duck. An East Siberian species, named by Radde in 



honour of K. E. von Baer. 

 BAG: The LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE. (Northants.) In 



allusion to the shape of its nest. 

 BAILLON'S CRAKE [No. 458]. The name seems to occur 



first in Selby. This is the P. bailloni of Vieillot, hence the 



name. 



