558 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



1892, and is still preserved in our collection here ; the third was shot by 

 Mr. C. Clarke, of Aldeburgh, in what we used to call the " First Mere," 

 Nov. 8th, 1883, but I am unable to say in whose possession it now is. Our 

 specimen was obtained quite by chance ; three birds flew low over the mere 

 within a long shot of me, and I fired at them, thinking them to be Curlew 

 Sandpipers. A good many years have passed since then, but I well 

 remember the intense delight with which I recognized my prize. It is just 

 possible that Mr. Arnold's bird may prove to be the Siberian Pectoral 

 Sandpiper (Tringa acuminata), of which two specimens have been obtained 

 in Norfolk (Zool. 1892, pp. 356,405).— Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, 

 Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk). 



The Names of British Birds. — Mr. Meiklejohn's notes on the names 

 of British Birds are very interesting, but I am afraid that we must not 

 allow it to be supposed that the name of the Fulmar has been borrowed 

 from the Foumart or Foul Mart. That both the bird aud mammal have a 

 strong smell is true enough, but there the coincidence begins and ends. 

 Fulmar is the Gaelic name of the bird, variously spelt, but derived from 

 purely Gaelic sources (cf. Martin, ■ Western Isles,' p. 283 ; Gray, ■ Birds 

 of the West of Scotland,' p. 499 ; Harvie-Brown and Buckley, ■ A Fauna 

 of the Outer Hebrides,' p. 156 ; Newton, ' Dictionary of Birds,' p. 295). 

 References in support of this might be multiplied, but they are sufficiently 

 obvious. This Petrel is the Ice Petrel (Eis-Sturmvogel) of German ornitho- 

 logists, and the Petrel glacial of the French ; but in Britain it is always 

 recognized by its Gaelic name. — H. A. Macpheeson (The Rectory, 

 Pitlochry). 



The Origin and Meaning of the Names of British Birds. — Mr. 

 Meiklejohn's paper revives the discussion of an interesting subject. A, 

 valuable paper on the meaning of English Bird Names, by Mr. H. T. 

 Wharton, is to be found in 'The Zoologist ' for 1882, p. 441 ; and the 

 same volume contains a note by Mr. Wharton on the etymology of Wigeon. 

 Prof. Newton's * Dictionary of Birds ' may of course be consulted with great 

 advantage, the derivation of many of the names being therein indicated, 

 although the meaning of some of our bird-names seems very obscure. I 

 should like to remark that Nuthatch means Nutcracker — hatch and crack 

 being really the same. Pie (ante, p. 513) has surely some reference to the 

 pied plumage of the Magpie and other birds. The Pied Woodpecker has been 

 called the French Magpie, and Pie-Finch is a local name for the Chaffinch 

 with conspicuous white about it. The connection between Pochard and 

 Poacher sounds slighter when we remember that the ch in the former is 

 hard, and that another form of the word is Poker. Is it not possible that 

 the Knot may have been so called from its short, thick, chubby shape ? 

 Gull and Guillemot have, I should think, different origins, and may be 



