COMMON—COMMON. bo 
the Welsh and Manksmen a Guillem ; by those of Northum- 
berland and Durham, a Guillemot or Sea-hen ; in Yorkshire 
about Scarburgh, a Skout; by the Cornish, a Kiddaw.” 
Albin calls it “‘ Guillemot or Sea-Hen,” and Pennant and 
Montagu Foolish Guillemot. Gray says its Gaelic name in 
the Hebrides is Hun an ?a Sgadan or Herring-bird. In 
Welsh it is Gwilym or Gwylog. 
COMMON GULL [No. 4380]. It occurs in Willughby as the 
Common Sea-Mall and in Pennant (1766) as Common Gull. 
It is said in Scotland that when they appear in the fields, 
a storm from the south-east generally follows, and when the 
storm begins to abate they fly back to the shore. A popular 
rhyme is :— 
Sea-cull, sea-gull, sit on the sand ; 
It’s never good weather when you’re on the land. 
Common HawrincH: The PINE-GROSBEAK.  (Fleming.) 
The HAWFINCH occurs in the same author as Common 
Grosbeak. 
COMMON HERON [No. 260]. From Fr. Heron, which is 
apparently from Gr. cpwd.s. The name occurs as Heron in 
Turner (who also calls the species Pella after Aristotle), 
also in Willughby as the “common Heron or Heronshaw.”’ 
Turner relates that it “routs Eagles or Hawks, if they 
attack it suddenly, by very liquid mutings of the belly, 
and thereby defends itself.” Swainson says it is a belief 
in the South of Ireland that small eels pass through the 
intestines of a Heron alive, a belief also found in Pontop- 
pidan’s “‘ Norway.” Jamieson gives an Angus superstition 
to the effect that this bird waxes and wanes with the moon, 
being plump when it is full and so lean at the change that 
it can scarcely raise itself. In the “ Booke of St. Alban’s ” 
it is stated that “‘ The Heron, or Hernsew, is a fowl that 
liveth about waters, and yet she doth so abhor raine and 
tempests that she seeketh to avoid them by flying on high. 
She hath her nest in very loftie trees and sheweth as it 
were a natural hatred against the Gossehawk and other 
kind of hawks, and so likewise doth the hawk seek her 
destruction continually.” The old saying as to a person 
not knowing “a hawk from a handsaw ” dates back to the 
days of falconry, and occurs in “ Hamlet”: the “ hand- 
saw,’ however, is corrupted from “‘ Hernshaw.” A country 
belief is, that when the Heron flies low the air is heavy and 
thickening into showers. 
Common HoopoE: The HOOPOE. (Montagu.) 
Common KinerisHer. See KINGFISHER. 
