2186 Birds. 



Provincial Names of Birds. — Your correspondent, Mr. Evans, has favoured the 

 readers of the ' Zoologist ' (Zool. 2136) with a list of the names under which various 

 birds are known in Leicestershire. Such lists are not without their use, as when an 

 ornithologist changes his locality it is some time before he learns to what birds the ob- 

 servations of his rustic friends are intended to apply : perhaps, therefore, you may find 

 room for a short list of the names by which various common birds are known in Nor- 

 folk. I shall, however, leave those of the shore and sea birds to the pen of my friend 

 Mr. Dowell, who is, as I know, preparing a list of those found near Blakeney. The 

 kestrel usually changes names with the sparrow hawk, or two species are made of it ; 

 the male being the ' kastril ' (the more correct pronunciation of the name retained 

 here), the female and young the ' sparrow hawk.' The marsh harrier is the only ' buz- 

 zard ' commonly known, the true buzzard being rare and the harrier becoming so. 

 The jackdaw, though known by that name generally now, was anciently, as appears 

 by the Skeyton parish-books, called the ' caddaw.' The ' hayjack ' comprises, I fancy, 

 Curruca hortensis and cinerea, while the blackcap is the 'black-headed hayjack.' 

 The spotted flycatcher is the ' wall-bird,' so named from the place by which its nest is 

 usually found. The redstart bears the equivalent name of the ' firetail.' The whin- 

 chat is the ' furze chuck,' I believe ; but I am not certain to which of the two, or 

 whether to both the stonechat and whinchat, this is applied. The sedge warbler is 

 the ' reed-bird.' The Parus major and caeruleus are both known by the name of ' pick- 

 cheese,' while the P. caudatus is the * pudding-poke.' Sylvia Trochilus is the ' oven- 

 bird,' so called, like the preceding, from the shape of its nest. The bearded titmouse 

 it the ' reed pheasant,' and indeed with its long graduated tail it is not unlike a minia- 

 ture pheasant. The yellow hammer is named, from the markings of its eggs, the 

 ' writing lark,' or rather I should say the nest is called a writing lark's nest, by bird- 

 nesting boys, without taking the trouble to find out the bird to which it belongs. The 

 chaffinch is of course the ' spink.' The goldfinch is known, by the natives of the south 

 of Norfolk, by a much more honourable title than it has received in Leicestershire ; it 

 is the ' King Harry,' from its beautiful crown : hereabouts it is usually the ' draw- 

 water,' from the tricks it is taught when tamed. The green woodpecker is the ' whet- 

 tell' or ' wet-wall.' The creeper is the ' tree creeper,' and the nuthatch the ' nut- 

 jobber.' The wryneck is the ' cuckoo's leader ' and * snake-bird.' The swift is known 

 by the same name as in Leicestershire ; it is the ' deviling : ' if you were to ask here 

 whether there were any swifts about, you would be told, " Yes, plenty in the clay-pits : " 

 the only creature known by that name is the water-eft. The only ' bustards ' now left 

 are the (Edicnemus crepitans, which are very generally known by that name. The 

 heron retains its old English name of the ' heronshaw,' or ' hernshe ' as it is pro- 

 nounced. Here is a list of a few names, some of which T suspect are not confined to 

 this county ; but though I am a native of it, I am still occasionally puzzled by some 

 name decidedly new to ornithology, and many more doubtless remain to be recorded. 

 — H. T. Frere ; Blofield, June 10, 1848. 



Labelling Eggs of Birds. — Allow me to thank you for the notice (Zool. 2132) of 

 the ' Catalogue of Eggs ' you were kind enough to insert in the last number of the 

 * Zoologist.' As my only object is to promote, even in a trifling degree, the study of a 

 branch of Natural History which daily gains additional interest, you will perhaps al- 

 low me to add a few remarks in further explanation of my " machine." Had " the 

 shovel " (as you very appropriately call labels) really grown old in the service, there 

 would be no room for improvement ; and I, for one, should never be so much wanting 



