No. 2] The Birds of Old English Literature 21 



3. guSfugel. Lit. ' bird of war ' ; < ^t5, war + fugel, 

 bird ; used as an epithet of the eagle. 



JUd. 25. 5 : Sone haswan earn, guSfugles hleoSor. 



4. guShafoc. An epithet of the eagle ; < g-m, war + 

 ha foe, hawk. 



Brun. 64: earn aeftan hwit, aeses brucan, graedigne guShafoc. 



Gen. Milvus. Kites. 



XXXVI. I. cyta. K.\iQ {milvus milvus). M'E. kite or kete. 

 Once perhaps the most familiar bird of prey in Great 

 Britain, but now extinct in most of its former haunts. In 

 the Middle Ages it was very abundant in the streets of 

 London, where it fed upon offal and garbage. 



Pf^lV. 131. 38 : iuleo, cyta ; 196. 3 : butium, cyta, frisca ; 287. 7, 358. 35^ 

 Cp. B. 199: butio ~. 'The L. butio is properly a bittern, but doubtless buteo 

 is meant signifying a kind of falcon or hawk ' (Skeat). 



2. glida. Kite, glede; also written gleed or glead. 

 ME. glede ; Icel. gle'^a. <; glidan, to glide, referring to 

 its gliding motion. Glede continued to be the usual Eng. 

 name for the kite until a comparatively late period, and 

 is not wholly obsolete. The term is sometimes applied 

 to related hawks, such as the common buzzard and the 

 marsh-hawk. 



WW. 132. 16, 259. II, 285. 7, 443. 17, M. Gl. 307. 2: OT«7««j, glida ; Shrn. 

 29 : milvus -»; &. Gr. 243. 14: hie miluus, tSes glida ; Cp. M. 201 : ~ glioda; 

 2i/.4. 240. 31 : ~ glide ; Rid. 25. 5; hwilum glidan reorde muSe gemaene ; 

 Ml. H. i. 586. 6 : se Se Surh reaflac gewilnaS Sa Sing ?Se he mid his eagum 

 wiSutan sceaivaS, se is glida, na culfre xt his ehSyrlum ; M. H. i. 46. 16: 

 se 5e reaflac lufatS, he biS glida, and na culfre ; J£,. Gr. 19. 13 : hie miluus, 

 tSes glida ; 28. 19 : miluus, glida. 



3. frysca. Kite. This word is called a bittern by Bos- 

 worth-ToIler, probably because- its gloss butio is prop- 

 erly the L. word for bittern. Butio occurs several times 

 in OE. glosses, but always, with this single exception, in 

 connection with cyta, kite. It may possibly be intended 

 for buteo, a kind of hawk. The following gloss seems to 

 identify frysca with cyta. 



WW. 196. 3 : butium, cyta, frisca ; Cp. B. 227 : butio, frysca. 



