WATEE WHEATEAR. 247 



of Welshmen in search of summer employment, which 

 probably took place about the time of the Cuckoo's 

 appearance. According to Dyer, however, the Cuckoo is 

 still called " Welsh Ambassador " in Wales. 



WESTERN DUCK : STELLER'S EIDER. (Gould.) 



WESTERN LARGE-BILLED REED-BUNTING [No. 54]. 

 A south-west European species first recorded for the 

 British islands by Mr. Nicoll in 1908. 



WESTERN POCHARD :" STELLER'S EIDER. (Selby.) 



WET BIRD: The CHAFFINCH. (Rutland and Scotland.) 

 Chambers says it is because its cry syllabled " weet, weet," 

 is thought to foretell rain. 



WET-MY-LIP or WET-MY-FEET. Local names for the QUAIL ; 

 the first is a Norfolk and the second a Scots and Irish name. 



WEZEL COOT. The female or young of the SMEW. (Albin.) 

 From the head resembling that of a weasel. Also spelt 

 Weesel Coot by Pennant. See Vare Wigeon. 



WHATTTE or WHISHIE : The WHITETHROAT. (East 

 Lothian.) 



WHATJP: The COMMON CURLEW. (Scotland and North 

 England). From its cry. It occurs as Whaap in the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands. 



WHEATEAR [No. 166, Wheatear; No. 167, Greenland 

 Wheatear]. Generally derived from A. Sax. hwit= 

 white, and eers rump. Newton, however, was inclined to 

 reject this derivation " until it be shewn that such a name 

 ever existed." The name first occurs in the works of Taylor, 

 the " Water Poet " (1654) ; and in Merrett's list (1667) 

 as " Wheat-ear or White-tail." Willughby, who calls it the 

 " Fallow-Smich," says that in Sussex it is called the Wheat- 

 ear " because at the time of Wheat harvest they wax very- 

 fat," and also White-tail from the colour of the rump. He 

 is possibly in error as to the derivation of the word wheatear, 

 as its significance (vide supra) is considered to be similar to 

 the other name of White-tail. The name Wheatear is not 

 used by Turner (1544), who gives the names "clot-burd, 

 smatche, arlyng, and steinchek : " the first indicating the 

 bird's habit of sitting upon clods, the second being an 

 equivalent no doubt of " Chat," the third being a reference 

 to the white rump (from cers=rimrp and ling, a diminutive) 

 and the fourth being an equivalent to Stonechat. The 

 Greenland Wheatear, a sub-species breeding in Greenland 

 and North-east America, is now known to be a passage- 

 migrant through our islands in spring and autumn. 



