THE MEANING OF ENGLISH BIRD-NAMES. 447 



that breeds in the "stocks"' or trunks of trees, not among the 

 branches. Swallow is the " tosser," or mover to and fro in its 

 flight, like the " swell" of the sea; it is not from the same root as 

 the verb " to swallow." Teal is from the root of " till," like the 

 Dutch telen, to breed, cultivate ; teling is Dutch for a generation, 

 production, as well as for the bird ; Prof. Skeat says " the original 

 sense was merely 'a brood' or ' a flock,' and its use as a specific 

 form was accidental; we still use 'teal' as a plural form;" simi- 

 larly "bird" is " broodling." Vulture is the "tearer," from the 

 root of the Latin vul-si, I plucked, tore. 



Names of birds that bear some reference to man are a little 

 hard to explain. Colin, the little quail from Virginia, is nick- 

 named after a French pet form of Nicholas. Guillemot is from 

 the French Guillaume, as the provincial name Willock is from 

 William. In Mag-pie, Mag is short for Maggie, a familiar form 

 of Margaret, like the French Margot, which also means a Magpie. 

 In France a Magpie is generally called Jacques, and jacasser is to 

 chatter like a Magpie. We have the same in Jack-daw, and 

 probably in Jack-snipe also. Martin is named after St. Martin. 

 French abounds with such names ; e. g. Sansonnet, a Starling, is 

 a diminutive from Sanson, for Samson ; Jacquot is a parrakeet ; 

 Parrot and Parrakeet (French perroquet) are both from Pierre, 

 Peter, just as our Petrel is, though there it is in allusion to its 

 walking, like St. Peter, on the waves. Sailors call petrels Mother 

 Carey's chickens, which is said to be corrupted from the Portu- 

 guese madre cara, the French oiseaux cle Notre Dame. Shakspere 

 (' King John,' i. 231) calls the Sparrow Philip, and the name is at 

 least as old as Chaucer ; the French call it Pierrot, little Peter. 

 Our Robin is the pet form of Robert ; just as we talk of the Tom- 

 tit, and the Jenny or Kitty Wren. Prof. Skeat says Lark means 

 "worker of craft," and thinks the name points to some superstition 

 which regarded the bird as of ill omen. 



My last category contains names of birds which we have 

 inherited from the Romans or Greeks. Buzzard comes through 

 the French buse, from the Latin buteo. Bustard is a corruption of 

 avis tarda, but it is improbable that tarda here means " slow," for 

 Pliny quotes it as the Spanish name, so it is likely to be Celtic 

 originally. Crane is a widely disseminated form of the Gr^eek 

 yfyavos; its Welsh name garan refers to its " shanks," akin to the 

 English " garter." Eagle is the Latin aquila, through the French 



