THE GUERNSEY DIALECT NAMES OF BIRDS, 

 FISHES, INSECTS, &c. 



BY E. D. MARQUANl), vV . L . S . 



Three years ago I had the honour of reading hefore this 

 Society a paper on the patois names of phmts which are still 

 current among the rural folk of Guernsey ; and I appended 

 to it a list of about 230 such names, together with whatever 

 scraps of plantlore I had been able to collect. This paper 

 (published in our Transactions for 1905) was so well received 

 by our members, as well as by many persons both in England 

 and France who are interested in local dialects, that I was 

 encouraged to begin the compilation of a companion list, 

 giving the local patois names of birds, fishes, crustaceans, 

 insects and other forms of animal life. 



It soon became clear, however, that this would prove less 

 easy of accomplishment. It was a simple matter presenting 

 no difficulty at all, to point to a certain plant growing in a 

 field or a hedge, and ask a farmer what he called it ; but 

 this could not be done with living creatures ; and therefore in 

 most instances the mode of procedure adopted previously had 

 to be reversed ; it became necessary to collect first the local 

 names, and then having these, the species they stood for could 

 be ascertained afterwards. But unfortunately this w^as not 

 always possible. Even now I have in hand a number of w^ords 

 which up to the present have not been identified, and conse- 

 quently they cannot be inserted in the present list. 



Here again, as in the case of plants, we have overAvhelm- 

 ing proof that the old Norman language of Guernsey is 

 rapidly dying out. There are plenty of people who distinctly 

 remember that a certain name belongs to some sort of fish, 

 perhaps, or some kind of bird, but they cannot tell which one, 

 and therefore that particular name is practically valueless. 

 They still recollect the word, but not the thing it signifies ; 

 and consequently in a very few years even the w^ord itself will 

 have completely faded from memory. 

 [1908.] 



