204 EARLY ANNALS OF ORNITHOLOGY 
lost. But the first named can be identified, for according 
to the “ Ornithologia Svecica”’ of Nilsson, Arta is Swedish 
for a Garganey Teal, and was probably used in Norfolk 
for any Teal. In 1824 ©. S. Girdlestone states that Arps, 
evidently a variant of the same word, was a name used in 
some parts of Norfolk for Tufted Ducks,* and it is mentioned 
again by Bewick in 1826.t Noblet was probably some 
species of duck witb a knob on its head, which may mean 
a tubercle, such as the Sheld-Duck and Scoter possess, or it 
may mean a crest. Forby gives Knobble-tree as a provincial 
name for head.{ With regard to Anker, this would be the 
same as ancre, that is, a nun, an old name sometimes given 
to the white male Smew. 
Professor Newton was always in hope that a fair copy of 
Browne’s two “ Accounts”? would some day turn up, being 
of opinion that the papers in the British Museum were but a 
rough copy. If that be so, it may account for the omission 
of the Owl, Pheasant, Snipe, and Wood-Pigeon; that some 
pages of the original are missing seems almost certain. At the 
same time it was evidently not Browne’s intention on this 
occasion to give his correspondent an enumeration of all the 
small birds, which would have considerably extended the list. 
As it now stands, it embraces eighty-nine species, to which 
are subsequently added in his letters to Ch. Merrett a few others, 
viz., the Hobby, Merlin, Waxwing, “ Beebird”’ (Spotted 
Flycatcher), Tufted Duck, Garganey Teal, Golden-eye and 
Guillemot. Browne’s enumeration commences with the birds 
of prey, but it can hardly be said to possess any order, and 
much pertinent matter is omitted, some of which had found 
a place in his ‘“‘ Enquiries into vulgar and common errors,” 
as for example what he has to say on the Bittern.§ 
Who Browne’s correspondent was must be a matter of 
conjecture. It is clear that these notes on Birds and Fishes— 
so carefully penned and original—were not intended for Dr. 
Ch. Merrett, nor were they meant for the use of Ray, who in 
* “ Norwich Naturalists’ Trans.,’’ Vol. II., p. 396. 
+ “ History of British Birds,” Vol. IT., p. 328, note. On the authority of a 
Norfolk correspondent. : 
t “Vocabulary of East Anglia,” 1830, Vol. II., p. 187. 
§ Willkin’s edition of Works (1835), Vol. II., pp. 521-8 
