364 THE BIRDS OF LINCOLNSHIRE IN l6l2. 



(Of river flights the chief, so that all other sort 



They only green-fowl term) in every mere abound, 



That you would think they sat upon the very ground, 



Their numbers being so great, the waters covering quite, 



That rais'd, the spacious air is darken'd with their flight ; 



Yet still the dangerous dykes, from shot do them secure, 



Where they from flash to flash, like the full epicure 



Waft, as they lov'd to change their diet every meal ; 



And near to them you see the lesser dibbling Teal 3 



In bunches 4 , with the first that fly from mere to mere, 



As they above the rest were lords of earth and air. 



The Gossander 5 with them, my goodly fens do show 



His head as ebon black, the rest as white as snow. 



With whom the Widgeon 6 goes, the Golden-eye 7 , the Smeath 8 , 



And in odd scatter'd pits, the flags and reeds beneath, 



The Coot 9 , bald, else clean black, that whiteness it doth bear 



Upon the forehead star'd, the Water-hen 10 doth wear 



Upon her little tail, in one small feather set. 



The Water- Woosell 11 next, all over black as jet, 



With various colours, black, green, blue, red, russet, white, 



Do yield the gazing eye as variable delight 



As do those sundry fowls, whose several plumes they be. 



The diving Dobchick 12 , here amongst the rest you see, 



Now up, now down again, that hard it is to prove, 



Whether under water most it liveth, or above : 



With which last little fowl, (that water may not lack, 



More than the dobchick doth, and more doth love the brack 13 ,) 



3 Qiierquedula crecca (L.). 



4 The word used in falconry and by fenmen for a company of teal. — S.J. 



5 Gossander = Goosander, Mergus merganser L. 

 0 Mareca penelope (L.). 



7 Clcuigula glaucion (L.). 



8 Smeath would appear to be another name for the Smew, Mergus albelhis~L-W ".Y '. 



9 Coot-Bald or Bald-Coot, Fulica atra L. 



10 Water-hen or Moor-hen, Gallinula chloropus L. The specific name refers to 

 the green colour of the legs ; the under tail-coverts are nearly white, as noticed by 

 Drayton. — W.Y. 



11 This can scarcely refer to the Water Ouzel or Dipper, a bird which could never 

 have been common in Lincolnshire ; certainly not in the fens. May have been 

 one of the Rails. An old name of the Water Rail {Rallus aquaticus) is ' Brook 

 Ouzel.'— J. C. 



12 Dabchick or Little Grebe, Tachybctptes fluviatilis Tunst. 



13 Salt water.- S.J. 



Naturalist, 



