GUERNSEY DIALECT NAMES. 513 



Allusions to various forms of animal life are of frequent 

 occurrence in the poems and compositions of our local writers ; 

 so in order to miss no opportunity of adding to my list, I have 

 perused carefully, and I may also say with the greatest 

 interest and pleasure, pretty nearly everything that has been 

 printed in the Guernsey dialect ; and thus I have accumulated 

 a large number of extracts in which different names are 

 mentioned. Some of these passages are extremely quaint and 

 curious, and seeing that bare lists are always dull reading, it 

 will relieve the monotony and add to the reader's interest to 

 have a line or two from an author who mentions a name, to- 

 gether with an English rendering of the quotation. But I 

 need scarcely remark that this English translation in most 

 cases utterly fails for want of context to convey the peculiar 

 force and piquancy of the original ; it is a simple literal 

 version for tlie benefit of ])ersons who are insufficiently 

 acquainted with the dialect. 



About 260 patois names of animals of various kinds will 

 be found in the following pages, alphabetically arranged under 

 different heads. Those of our members who are more familiar 

 with the vernacular than I am Avill, in looking through this 

 list, no doubt recall other names which are not given, for it 

 lays no claim to anything approaching completeness. If they 

 will kindly note down whatever additions they know of, and 

 send them on to me, all such help Avill be gratefully acknow- 

 ledged, and utilised in a future supplement. My best thanks 

 are again due to Mr. J. S. Hocart and the Rev. R. H. 

 Tourtel for much valuable assistance in the collection of 

 materials for this list ; and I am also indebted to Mr. B. 

 Rowswell and Mi-. G. J. Tourtel for information about some 

 doubtful names. 



I should like to take this opportunity of saying just a few 

 words about the literature of our island dialect, and the 

 impressions it has left upon my mind after going through it 

 for the purpose of this paper. 



First, as regards the Dictionnaire Frajico-Xormand by 

 the late George Metivier, published in 1870. This is a 

 classical work that bears full evidence of the author's erudi- 

 tion. Mr. Metivier was above all a philologist, and his 

 Dictionnaire is a monument of painstaking research, a mine 

 of information on the probable or possible origin and deriva- 

 tion of patois words and phrases, a book which the student 

 may almost always open at random and find his attention 

 instantly rivetted on the page, although he may not at times 

 be disposed to accept the author's views. 



