^°- 2] The Birds of Old English Literature 33 



Ord. Ralliformes. Rails. 



F. Rallidae. Rails and Water-Hens. 



Sub. F. Rallinffi. Rails. 



Gen. Crex. Land-Rails. 



LVI. secgscara. Corn-crake or land-rail {crex crex). 

 Cf. Icel. skdri, sea-mew. 



WW. 287. II : ortigometra, secgscara. 



Hall calls secgscara a quail, but wrongly I believe. 

 Coturnix is the usual L. word for quail, while ortygometra 

 {ppTv^-\- fi,-i)Tf\p) is properly 'quail mother,' a bird that leads 

 the quails in their migrations across the sea, i. e. the land- 

 rail or corn-crake. Moreover the first part of the OE. 

 word, secg (sedge), would seem to suggest the fondness of 

 the land-rail for the reeds of the fens and marshes. 



Sub. F. Fulicins. Coots. 



LVII. I. dopenid. Common coot {fulica atra); < stem 

 of dopettan, to dip + enid, duck : lit. ' dipping duck.' 



WW. 132. 18 : fulica, dopenid ; Cp. F. 382: funix, gonot uel doppa enid ; 

 Ep.-Er. 419 : fulix, ganot uel dopaenid ; Cf. F. 397 : fulice gen(us) auis 

 marinae, 



2. uphebbe. Coot; <^updkebban, to lift up, 'tail-lifter.' 

 Found only in genitive. 



Th. Ps. 103. 17 : fulicae domus, uphebbean bus. 



LVIII. I. dopfugel. Lit. 'dipping fowl'; •< dopettan, 

 to dip+/«^^/, fowl. Wiilker says, 'the moorhen — still 

 called in Dutch doopvogel,' but it seems to have been used 

 as a general term for diving fowl. It is glossed mergulus, 

 which is the didapper or little grebe in the 15th cent, 

 glosses. 



Shrn. 2g : mergulum, niger avis, mergit sub aquam pisces quarere, i. e. dop- 

 fugel. The moorhen would hardly be described as a black bird {niger avis) . 

 WW. 258. 14, ZdA. 240. 23 : mergus, dopfugel ; WW. 284. 8 : mergulus ~. 



2. fugeldoppe. Diving fowl. 



WW. 131. 20: mergulus, fugeldoppe. 



