NOTES AND QUERIES. 431 



exactly coincides with your interesting conclusion about the prominent and 

 largely developed " knob " at the base of the bill in the male (p. 374). Pen 

 is a common Welsh word also for " head," and is applied to birds thus : 

 Penddu (pronounced Penthee)=the Blackcap ; Penaur, the Yellowhammer ; 

 Penwyn, the bald Buzzard (i.e. Marsh Harrier). All this is from Dr. 

 Richards' Welsh-English Dictionary, printed at Wrexham, and it seems 

 to point strongly to Welsh favouritism for the female Swan as the head 

 (pen) of the birds. You will perhaps say this is all pen-gamrwydd, which 

 Dr. Richards delightfully renders " wryness of head " ! Surely the 

 Wryneck is humanized — a curious instance of the Welsh worship of birds. 

 The Welsh for " Swan " is Alarch, plural eilarch, a word surely connected 

 with alon, music, and the Whooper " fluting a wild carol ere his death." 

 It may not be amiss to add that our word "eider" is the Welsh ydyr, 

 signifying "downy," and was applied to cygnets at least as early as 1553, 

 as appears from an entry in Kirby's ' Annals of Winchester College,' p. 276. 

 — H. D. Gokdon (Harting Vicarage, Petersfield). 



Origin of the terms "Cob" and "Pen."— A propos of your remarks 

 on the derivation of the term "cob," as applied to the male Swan (p. 373), 

 it may interest you to learn that the fishermen here in North Yorkshire 

 make a common use of the word " cop " in referring to a bird's crest. 

 I have occasionally been told that some of the men have seen " a Sawbill 

 (Merganser) with a grand cop," and have heard of "a duck with long 

 feathers in its tail and a white cop "= (Long-tailed Drake). Other 

 examples might be cited, but these will suffice to illustrate my meaning. 

 There are still many words in daily use in Cleveland which are almost pure 

 Anglo-Saxon or Danish, no doubt transmitted from the original settlers on 

 these shores, the descendants of whom are to be found in the North 

 Riding. — T. H. Nelson (Sandringham House, Redcar). 



Alleged abnormal Nesting of the Goldcrest in Ireland. — In all 

 deference may I suggest that it is hardly correct to refer to the nesting-site 

 of the Golden-crested Wren, Eegulus cristatus, against the sides of ivy- 

 covered trees as abnormal. Mr. A. T. Mitchell (p. 385) draws attention to 

 the fact that in his experience such is the situation commonly selected in 

 Ireland, in contradistinction, as he believes, to that appropriated for the 

 purpose of nidification by the species in England, I am naturally in 

 ignorance as to whether Mr. Mitchell is writing from personal knowledge 

 of the nesting economy of the Goldcrest in the latter country, or whether 

 his opinion is based on the writings of our standard authorities ; but, in 

 any case, I am presumptuous enough to think that silence on the point at 

 issue on the part of those to whom we are accustomed to look for light and 

 leading where the habits of birds are concerned arises from the fact that no 

 small portion of the ornithological literature of these islands is attributable 



