110 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



gamekeeper, twenty miles west of Cardiff, and sent in the flesh to a bird- 

 preserver in that town, who showed it to Mr. Drane before skinning it, 

 and in whose possession it now is. This species breeds from North 

 Scandinavia eastwards throughout Siberia, but has not been recorded before 

 from the British Islands. — Henky Seebohm (6, Tenterden Street, W.). 



The Etymology of " Wigeon." — Since no dictionary whatever 

 ventures on an authoritative derivation of this word, or even offers a reason 

 for its being spelt either with or without a d, it seems worth while to record 

 what I believe to be its true origin. Etymologists are agreed that " Pigeon" 

 comes, through the French, from the Latin word pipio. In exactly the 

 same way " Wigeon " comes from vlpio. The only recognised classical 

 author who uses this word vipio is Pliny ; he says (Hist. Nat. x. 69), " In 

 the Balearic Isles, the Buzzard, a kind of hawk, is held as a delicacy for 

 the table ; so, too, are vipiones, as they call some small Crane." This 

 identification of the bird need not trouble us, for pipio, whence "Pigeon" 

 is undoubtedly derived, merely means "a young chirping bird, a squab" — 

 not any particular species originally, and the old French names, " Vingeon " 

 and " Vigeon," as well as the modern French " Gingeon," seem applicable 

 to more than one kind of wild duck. Professor Skeat has shown, in answer 

 to my note on the subject in a recent number of • Notes and Queries,' that 

 the spelling " Wigiou " occurred as early as 1570, and that the insertion of 

 the d in the word has no more etymological significance than has the same 

 in judge, from the French juge. Hence there can be no doubt if we spell 

 " Pigeon" without a d, we must spell " Wigeon" by the same analogy, and 

 " Widgeon " must henceforth be regarded as a violation of established laws. 

 More than two centuries ago Menage put forth the present derivation, 

 though it has escaped recognition. I found the suggestion in Salerne's 

 interesting French version of Ray's ' Synopsis Avium,' published in Paris 

 in 1767 (p. 424); he, however, prefers to derive the name from the impossible 

 source of the note made by the bird during flight. — Henry T. Wharton 

 (39, St. George's Road, Kilburn). 



[Rolland, in his ' Faune Populaire de la France ' (vol. ii., p. 397), states, 

 on the authority of Millet, ' Faune de Maine et Loire,' that in Anjou the 

 male of this species is called Digeon, the female Digeonne. — Ed.] 



The Breeding Haunts of the Gannet in Ireland. — When at 

 Glengarriff, in 1878, I was told that Gaunets bred on the Bull Rock, at 

 the entrance of Bantry Bay; but, although anxious to do so, I was unable 

 to make an expedition to that island. Through the kindness of my friend 

 Mr. S. N. Hutchius, of Arduagashel House, Bantry, I am enabled to send 

 you an account of a visit paid to the island some years ago. Mr. Hutchins 

 says; — "I only paid one visit to the Bull, Cow, and Calf Rocks, in 

 June, 1S68, when I landed on the three Rocks on the same day. I found 



