GUERNSEY DIALECT NAMES. 521 



Ouaie. Goose. 



Ses poules valent d's ouaies. (Proverb). 

 His fowls are worth geese. 

 Ouaise. Bird. 



This local form of the French oisea/t- is mostly applied in a figurative 

 sense to a person, /ai }na/ui ouaise having much the same meaning as our 

 colloquial expression a knowing bird. Corbet writes " Veue a vol d'ouaise " 

 to signify a bird's-eye view. 



Pieouais or Hirondelle Pieouais. Swift. 



So called from ttie resemblance of a Swift on the wing to the head of 

 a pickaxe (pieouais). 



Via les pieouais: j'n'airon pas bel. {Proverb). 

 There are the swifts : we shall not have fine weather. 



Pie. Magpie. 



Te r'soiivient-i, I'orme a la pie, 

 Oil la vieille n'y fait pu sen nic ? (Metivier). 

 Do you remember the magpie elm tree, where the old bird no longer 

 nests ? 



Piemarange. Oyster-catcher. 



Ch'tait coum si tout' I's ouaies d'Berhon 

 Tout' ses maues et ses piemaranges 

 Avaient el'vai leux vouaix. (Corbet). 

 It was as if all the geese and gulls and oyster-catchers of Berhon had 

 lifted up their voices. 



Pigeon. Pigeon. 



Metivier writes Pijoune for the female bird. 



Jamais pijoune ou tourterelle 

 Ne fut souagnie coum al' etait. 

 Never was pigeon or turtledove nursed as she was, 

 PingOUin. Eazorbill. 



Et nou veyait, chacun a sa maniere 



S'entr'ecantair pingouins, mauves et hublots. (Metivier). 

 And one saw razorbills and gulls amusing themselves each in its way. 



Pipette. Duck. 



Pirot. Duckling. 



I va coum un pirot attaqui du gambet. (Corbet). 

 He walks like a lame duckling. 

 PlluVieP or Pllouvier. Plover. 



Biau qu'a persent poiir un pllouvier 

 En vain nous travers'rait les hures. (Corbet). 

 Although nowadays one might cross the moors in vain in search of a 

 plover. 



Pouaehin. Chicken. 



Embarrassai coum la poule qui n'a qu'un pouaehin. (Proverb). 

 As fidgetty as a hen with only one chicken. 

 Puant. Probably the Manx Shearwater. 

 Rale. Water Kail. 



J'oyais dans I'vivier a pavie, illo, niet apres niet, 

 L'rale et I'butor faisant la vie, quand j'me mettais au Diet. (Metivier). 



I heard in the reedy pool there night after night, the rail and the 

 bittern calling, when I was going to bed. 



Ribe : Ribiaux. Wren. 



Les ribiaux encarnichis dans leus criques. (Metivier). 

 The wrens hidden away in their holes. 

 Rouage-gOPge. Pobin Redbreast. 



Su nos ronches et nos bissons 



Ah! que d'rouage-gorges s'ront muettes. (Metivier). 



On our brambles and bushes how many robins will be silent. 



