444 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the bird with "hooked" claws, from the same stem as the Latin 

 falx, a sickle. Grebe is akin to the Breton word krib, a comb, 

 and kriben, a tuft of feathers on a bird's head. Grouse is probably 

 akin to the French griesche, gray, speckled ; Prof. Skeat thinks it 

 is a false form evolved form grice, as if that had been taken to be 

 the plural, like "mouse," "mice." Hemipode is obviously "half- 

 footed," from the Greek, because the hind-toe is wanting. Jay is 

 the "gay" bird, from its gay plumage and chattering ways; 

 "gay" originally meant "full of go." Oriole is from the Latin 

 aureolus, the "golden" bird; the French loriot was formerly 

 Voriol, the article having become agglutinated, just as " newt" is 

 " an ewt" or " an eft." Phalarope means " coot-footed," from the 

 Greek <pa\oiqi$, a coot, and -sroi^, a foot, on account of its feet being 

 similarly lobed, not fully webbed. Puffin is from the "puffed 

 out" appearance of its beak. Ruff is ordinarily said to allude to 

 the "ruffle" of feathers round the neck of the male in the 

 breeding-season ; but as the female is called a Reeve, Prof. Skeat 

 thinks that the name comes from some different source, indicated 

 by the vowel-change. Serin is French, from the Latin citnnus, 

 " citron-coloured." Shag means rough hair, probably in allusion 

 to its crest. Sheldrake is the "variegated" or "spotted" drake, 

 either because it is ornamented with " shields" of colour, or from 

 its being "tortoise-shelled," marked like tortoise-shell, as it 

 certainly is, like a " tortoise-shell cat." Stint is the little or 

 "stunted" sandpiper. Stork is probably from its stalking on 

 " stalks " or lengthened legs. Tit is literally " something small," 

 and not onomatopoeic. Tit-lark is consequently the " small lark." 

 Titmouse is compounded of "tit" and the Anglo-Saxon mdse, 

 which means various small birds : " mouse" comes from a totally 

 different root, and means "the stealing animal"; so that the 

 plural of " titmouse" should be " titmouses," not " titmice." 



Names descriptive of habits are very numerous. The meaning 

 of many is sufficiently obvious, such as Brambling or Bramble- 

 finch, Chaffinch, Courser, Creeper, Dabchick, Dipper, Diver, 

 Fieldfare (the bird that "fares" or travels in the fields, as in 

 "thoroughfare"), Goatsucker (from a superstition which certainly 

 did not originate from actual observation), Hawfinch (where 

 "haw" is a hedge, " hawthorn" being " hedgethorn"), Moorhen, 

 Nightjar, Nutcracker, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, Sanderling (the 

 little dweller on the sands), Sandpiper, Sand Grouse, Shearwater, 



