74 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



DINNICK : The WRYNECK. (Devonshire.) Swainson says the 

 name is given it on account of its brown plumage. 



DIP EARS : The LITTLE TERN. (Norfolk.) 



DIPPER [No. 192, Black-bellied Dipper ; No. 193, British 

 Dipper ; No. 194, Irish Dipper]. The name is first given by 

 Tunstall in 1771 as Water Ouzel or Dipper. It is given as 

 a provincial name by Be\vick (1804) under the heading 

 of " Water Ouzel," and he observes that it may 

 be seen perched on the top of a stone in the midst 

 of the torrent, in a continual dipping motion or 

 short curtsey, often repeated ; and the name is therefore 

 probably not (as is commonly supposed) derived from its 

 habit of entering the water in search of its food. I find 

 no earlier use than Tunstall's of this name, and therefore the 

 derivation sometimes given from A. Sax. dippan or dyppan 

 to dip or dive, is inaccurate. Selby calls it the " European 

 Dipper," and Fleming the " Dipper," from which time on 

 the name superseded the older one of Water Ouzel. The 

 species is correctly described under the heading of Alcedo 

 by Turner (1544), who calls it the " Water craw," and thinks 

 it akin to the KINGFISHER, His " Cinclus " however, 

 does not refer to the DIPPER. Evans thought it to be 

 the COMMON SANDPIPER, but the description does not 

 correspond at all with the latter species. Willughby calls 

 the present bird " Water Crake," but most subsequent 

 authors call it the " Water Ouzel." Swainson gives Dipper 

 as a Shropshire name for the KINGFISHER. The Black- 

 bellied Dipper is the Scandinavian and North European 

 form, which sometimes visits our eastern counties in winter. 

 Dr. Hartert has lately separated the Irish race from the 

 race resident in Great Britain ; and it must now be called 

 Irish Dipper. 



DIPPER or DIPPER DUCK : The LITTLE GREBE. (Yorkshire.) 

 The name is also applied to this species by Willughby and 

 by Montagu. 



DIPPURL: The COMMON TERN. (Norfolk.) 



DIRSH : The SONG-THRUSH. (Somerset.) 



DIRTY ALLEN, DIRTY AULIN, or DIRT BIRD : The ARCTIC 

 SKUA. (East Scotland.) 



DISHWASHER, PEGGY DISHWASHER, MOLLY WASHDISH, POLLY 

 WASHDISH, NANNY WASHTAIL, MOLL WASHER, WASHER- 

 WOMAN, DISHLICK. English provincial names for the 

 PIED WAGTAIL ; from the bird's habit of frequenting 

 the water's edge and holding its tail above the water to 

 prevent wetting it. 



