124 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



HOLM COCK, HOLM SCREECH, or HOLM THRUSH : The MISTLE- 

 THRUSH (Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire) ; in Yorkshire 

 " Hollin-Cock." From its partiality to the berries of the 

 holly or holm (Mid. Eng. holin) and from its loud song or 

 its harsh note when taking flight. 



HONEY-BUZZARD [No. 252]. Willughby (1678) thought it- 

 new and gave it the name of Honey- Buzzard from having 

 found the combs of wasps' nests in its nest. It was however 

 the Boudree of Belon (1555). Its food is the wasps and bees 

 and their larvae, not their honey, a fact which perhaps 

 accounted for Macgillivray's attempt to change the name 

 to " Brown Bee-Hawk." 



HOOD AWL: The GREEN WOODPECKER. (Cornwall.) 

 Perhaps a corruption of Wood Awl, which is possibly 

 again a corruption of Whetile, from A.Sax. thwitan=to cut. 



HOODED CROW [No. 2]. The name Hooded Crow is first 

 used by Pennant. Willughby and Ray call it the Royston 

 Crow ; Turner called it the " Winter Crow." The term 

 Hooded is derived from the black head and nape contrasting 

 with the grey of the mantle. For description of a curious 

 ceremony practised by Scottish herdsmen, in which offerings 

 are made to the hooded crow, eagle, etc., to induce them 

 to spare the flocks, see Pennant's " Tour in Scotland," HI, 

 pp. 110-11. 



The Guil, the Gordon and the Hooded Craw, 

 Were the three worst things Murray ever saw, 

 is a Morayshire saying (the guile, or gule, being an obnoxious 

 weed). The CARRION-CROW is frequently called Hooded 

 Crow or Hoodie in Scotland, while in the Orkneys and in 

 East Lothian, according to Swainson, the BLACK-HEADED 

 GULL is known as Hooded Crow or Hooded Mew. 



HOODED MERGANSER [No. 315, American Hooded Mer- 

 ganser]. The name is found in Selby and also in Yarrell 

 and succeeding authors. 



HOODED TERN : The LITTLE TERN. From the black crown 

 and nape. 



HOODIE or HUDDIE CRAW : The HOODED CROW. (Scottish 

 Borders.) 



HOOLET: The BARN-OWL. (Scottish Lowlands.) Also applied 

 to the TAWNY OWL. 



HOOP or COCK HOOP : The BULLFINCH. (Cornwall, Devon- 

 shire, Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, and Upton-on-Severn.) 

 It seems to be derived from the bird's whistling- 

 note. The name Hoop or Houp is also applied to the 

 HOOPOE (q.v.) 



