NAMES THAT PUZZLE COCKNEYS 63 



grouse hold regular love-levees, going through ridicu- 

 lous antics and gestures ; ducks skim absurdly about 



the water, bobbing their heads up and 

 Dances down as if bowing compliments to each 



other ; and even the sober rook will perform 

 a kind of love-dance. At courting times, the wood- 

 pigeons assume a wonderful lustre of plumage, and 

 the white of the neck-ring is very striking, like the 

 edging of a woodcock's tail. The cock wood-pigeon 

 is a laughable sight as he goes sidling down some 

 bare branch to greet his prospective bride ; nearer 

 and nearer he works his way, bowing incessantly 

 with a sideways motion of the body, until at last, with 

 neck bent low, bill meets bill in some kind of bird-kiss. 



* 



The Cockney in the country is perplexed by the 

 countryman's names for birds and beasts ; especially 



by names denoting gender. The country- 

 Names man seems to the townsman to be particular 

 Puzzle * n drawing ki s distinctions, and his precise 

 Cockneys way of referring to an ox or a steer, a bull- 



calf or a heifer, is found very puzzling, par- 

 ticularly to ladies who hold all cows to be bulls. 

 And when the countryman speaks of a wether- 

 sheep, a barrow -hog, of a hummel-stag, he is speaking 

 in mysteries. Even the terms of the poultry-yard 

 cock, cockerel, pullet, fowl, hen, or capon are not 

 always understood. 



