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THE ZOOLOGIST. 



error, clubste/, is contiuued] is a corruption of the same." In ' Science 

 Gossip' for June, 1883, W. T. Lynn, B.A., Blackheatb, writes:— "Tn 

 Halliwell's ' Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words ' it is stated that 

 ' Chibster' or ' Clubtail ' is a north-country dialectic word for a Stoat or 

 Summer Ermine [hermine d'ete, as the French call the animal). The last 

 syllable ' ster ' is evidently the old word ' start ' (in Anglo-Saxon stcort), 

 which still exists as part of the compound word red-start, but, as in ' club- 

 ster,' has been denuded, by a not uncommon process, of its final letter." In 

 ' Science Gossip ' for July, 188b, J. A. Wheldon states that " Stoats are still 

 called ' clubstarts ' amongst the country people about Scarborough and in 

 other parts of Yorkshire." Mr. Hawell, in the same number, after thanking 

 the above-quoted correspondents, says : — " The origin of the local word is 

 now clear. The early dwellers in the north, wishing to give this animal a 

 name to distinguish it Irom the Weasel, would sec in the black-tipped, com- 

 paratively short, tail its most distinguishing feature, and would not un- 

 naturally term it ' clubtail.' HalliwcU is somewhat indefinite in calling 

 'clubbter'a north-country word. I never heard it spoken of by this name 

 in Cumberland. This name cannot, I think, be a corruption of lobster, but 

 is it not just possible that the latter might be a corruption of Clubster? 



Something as to the Stoat's becoming white would be interesting. 



Some authors write as though the Stoat were never white in England, but 

 only farther north." I do not consider Mr. Haweil is correct in speaking of 

 the tail of the Stoat as " comparatively short " ; on the contrary, it is very 

 long compared with a Weasel's tail. The name club-tail was no doubt 

 suggested by the long and bushy appearance of the Stoat's tail. I par- 

 ticularly noticed this in June, 1881, when a fine Stoat ran across an open 

 field from a rabbit which it had just killed. Most Stoats are stuffed with 

 the black tip of the tail smoothed down. This is entirely wrong; the hairs 

 should be set on end, as much like a fox's brush as possible. In Bailey's 

 ' Dictionarium Britannicum,' printed in 1730 (" not only for the Information 

 of the Ignorant, but the Entertainment of the Curious ' ), I find under Lob : 

 " A large Nurtli Sea Fish, whence perhaps Lob, Lobcock (q. d. Lap-cock), a 

 great, heavy, sluggish fellow." By " North " being in italics I conclude he 

 connects the derivation of Lob with that word. May not this be a possible 

 source from which Lot-tail (or Lobstart, or Lobster) has sprung ? As the 

 Stoat was found most abundantly in the North, and its tail was its most 

 noticeable feature whilst running, the two ideas may have been blended 

 together in the compound name as we now have it. What is the dciivation 

 of LajA&nd ? The first part of the word may be the same as the above. If 

 I am right in tracing lob back to North, it will have no connection with 

 club; I however regard the words "Clubster" and "Lobster ' as being 

 practically identical with the derivation as given in ' Science Gossip.' — 

 Edwaku J. GiBBiNS (Neath, Glamorgan). 



