156 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



MEADOW TITLING: The MEADOW-PIPIT. (Provincial.) 

 MEALY BIRD : The young LONG-TAILED DUCK. (Norfolk.) 

 MEALY MILLER'S THUMB or MILLER'S THUMB : The LONG- 

 TAILED TITMOUSE. (Yorkshire.) From its small size. 



MEALY-MOUTH. A Craven name for the WILLOW- WARBLER ; 

 also the LESSER WHITETHROAT (North Yorkshire). 



MEALY REDPOLL [No. 21]. The name is found in Gould's 

 " Birds of Europe " (pt. xi). It also occurs as Mealy Redpole, 

 an incorrect spelling, as the name arises from its red head 

 (or poll). 



MEDITERRANEAN BLACK-HEADED GULL [No. 428]. 

 A Mediterranean species of much the same size as the 

 BLACK-HEADED GULL, but with a really black head. 



MEDITERRANEAN GREAT SHEARWATER [No. 326]. 



A species of Petrel confined to the Mediterranean, but 



of which a single example was picked up at Pevensey 



Beach, Sussex, in 1906. 

 MEGGY: The WHITETHROAT. {North Country.) An 



abbreviation of Margaret (?). Also occurs as Muggy. 

 MELHUEZ. A Cornish name for the SKY- LARK. Mr. Harting 



thinks it the same as Pelhudz=" high-flight." 

 MELODIOUS WARBLER [No. 142]. First recorded as 



British by Saunders ("Man. Br. Birds," 1899, p. 77). 

 MELODIOUS WILLOW- WARBLER : The ICTERINE WARBLER. 



(Hewitson.) Gould calls it Melodious Willow Wren. 



MERLE : The BLACKBIRD. Anglicization of Old. F. merle 

 " a mearle, ovvsell. blackbird " (Cotgrave), from Lat. 

 merula. Probably obsolete except in poetry, although 

 Swainson gives it as a Scots and Irish provincial name. 

 Canon Atkinson gives it as a Shakespearean name, but 

 probably erroneously, as I find only " ouzel-cock " (Mid- 

 summer Night's Dream ") and " black ouzel " (Henry IV). 



MERLIN [No. 236]. In Old. Eng. Marlin and Marlion, from 

 Old Fr. Esmerillon or Smirlon. The name occurs in Turner 

 (1544) and in Willughbjr. Sibbald gives Merlin as the 

 name of the female and Jack as the name of the male, 

 and among falconers formerly the latter was generally 

 called Jack -Merlin, Merlin being properly the term for the 

 female bird (see " Jack.") 



MERWYS. A poetical Welsh name for the BLACKBIRD. 



MEW. An old English name for any species of Gull (see 

 "Maw"). Also occurs as " Mell." 



