SIBILOUS SKY. 217 



SKIP-HEGRIE. A name for the HERON. (Montagu.) 



SKIRL or SKIRL COCK : The MISTLE-THRUSH. (Derbyshire.) 

 An equivalent of Shrill. 



SKIRL CRAKE: The TURNSTONE. (Shetlands.) From its 

 shrill cry. 



SKIRR : The ARCTIC TERN, COMMON TERN and LITTLE 

 TERN. (Ireland.) 



SKITE: The YELLOW BUNTING. (Aberdeen.) Skite=to mute. 



SKITTER-BROTTIE : The CORN-BUNTING. (Orkneys.) Swain- 

 son thinks it is from its resorting to corn-stacks in winter : 

 skite being to mute, and brothies, the cross-ropes of the roof 

 of a stack. 



SKITTY COCK or SKITTY COOT : The WATER-RAIL. (Devonshire, 

 Cornwall, Somersetshire) : from " skit "=to slide. Also the 

 SPOTTED CRAKE (Devonshire) and the MOORHEN 

 (Somersetshire). 



SKOOI or SHOOI: The ARCTIC SKUA. (Shetlands.) From its cry. 



SKOUT. See Scout. 



SKRABE : The MANX SHEARWATER. (Bewick, Montagu.) 

 See also Scraber. 



SKUA or SKUA GULL : The GREAT SKUA. Also others of the 

 Skuas ; from the cry. 



SKUTTOCK or SKIDDAW : The COMMON GUILLEMOT. (East 

 Lothian and Northumberland.) From skite=to mute. 



SKY-LARK [No. 62]. Found in W T illughby (1678) who terms 

 it " Skie-Lark," Turner (1544) merely calling it " Lerk." 

 Albin has Sky Lark : Pennant (1766) and later authors call 

 it Skylark. In Mid. Eng. the name lark occurs as larke 

 and laverock : from A.Sax. Idwerce, laverce, most probably 

 for lcewiverca=tra,itoT or guileworker. The reason why 

 one of the most cherished of British birds should have 

 received so bad a name at the hands of our Saxon forefathers 

 seems somewhat obscure. It is considered an auspicious 

 token in Orkney, where it is known as " Our Lady's hen " 

 (Dalyell). It is a popular belief that if larks fly high and 

 sing long, fine weather may" be expected (Inwards). 

 Chambers (" Popular Rhymes of Scotland") gives a curious 

 rhyming version of the lark's song as follows : 

 Up in the lift go we, 

 Tehee, tehee, tehee, tehee ! 

 There's not a shoemaker on the earth 

 Can make a shoe to me, to me ! 

 Why so, why so, why so ? 

 Because my heel is as long as my toe. 

 The reference in the last line is to the bird's long hind claw. 



