1172 The Zoologist— April, 18G8. 



Peewit. — The " pease-weep " is sometimes regarded as a bird of 

 evil omen in Scotland, the origin of which is said to be that it 

 frequently betrayed the persecuted Covenanters by ils habit of wheeling 

 round and round over an intruder on its haunts. Its nest is constantly 

 "harried," in spite of the poor bird's mournful plaint 



" Pease-weet ! pease-wc-ei ! 

 Harry my nest and you'll gar me greet! v 



That is, make me weep {Chambers). " In consequence of the 

 inveteracy excited by the ambitious pretensions of Edward I. to the 

 Scottish crown, an old Scottish Parliament passed an Act ordering all 

 the pease-weep's nests to be demolished, and the eggs broken, assigning 

 as a reason that these birds might not go south and become a delicious 

 repast to our unnatural enemies the English." ('Agricultural Survey 

 of Forfarshire,' quoted by Jamieson). 



Heron. — " In Angus it is vulgarly believed that this bird waxes and 

 wanes with the moon, that it is plump when the moon is at the full, 

 and so lean at the change that it can scarcely raise itself, so that it 

 can almost be taken with the hand." (Jamieson, Scot. Die). It was 

 believed that the legs of the heron contained a perfume which 

 attracted fish within reach of its bill; lsaak Walton says, " And some 

 affirm that any bait anointed with the marrotv of the thigh-bone of a 

 hern is a great temptation to any fish : these have not been tried by 

 me, but told me by a friend of note that pretended to do me a 

 courtesy ; " the receipt would be a difficult one to follow, birds having 

 no marrow in their bones. 



Bittern . — The "mire-bumper" or "bog-bummer" was formerly 

 supposed to produce its booming noise by sticking ils beak either in a 

 hollow reed or in the mud. Chaucer says 



" A bittore bumbletli in the mire." 



which Dryden changes into 



" A bittern bumps within a reed.'" 



Wife of Bath. 



Stork. — The stork is a bird of good omen, and has no voice unless 

 a loud clattering of its mandibles can be so called ; so Spencer proves 

 himself no good naturalist when he says in his ' Epithalamion.' 



" Let not the scriecb-owl nor the stoilie be beard." 



Dante is more accurate when he compares the gnashing of teeth in 



