SELBORNIANA. 
47 
Hampshire Local Names. — Mr. Fowler’s list in our last issue has elicited 
the following replies : 
The Rev. H. D. Gordon writes from Petersfield : “Mr. Fowler’s ‘Wet your 
neck ’ is the green wood-pecker, though I have heard our foresters apply it to the 
Wryneck.” 
Capt. S. G. Reid writes from Otterhead, Honiton : “ The name ‘blood lark’ 
is given to the tree pipit on the Hants and Surrey border near Farnham, pre- 
sumably from the not unusual red or pink tint of the eggs. I was much puzzled 
when I heard the name, but the capture of a ‘ blood lark ’ on its nest in my 
presence settled the question.” 
Mr. Fowler adds the following Hampshire plant-names, overlooked in writing 
•out his previous list 
Pussy-cat 
* Rush-cane 
Dead-men’s-hands 
*La vender-snip 
*IIemmin-an’-sewin 
*Time-table 
* Canary-seed 
*Virgin Mary 
*Poison-weed 
*Bugles 
‘‘Devil’s-night-cap 
Catkin 
Typha latifolia 
Orchis 7 /iascula 
I.inaria Cytnbalaria 
Yarrow 
Dandelion 
Pla.nla.vo major 
Pulmonaria officinalis 
Sedum (any kind) 
Echium vulgar e 
Larkspur 
The names marked with an asterisk are not to be found in the Dictionary of 
English Plant Names. Some of them are explained by comparison with other 
names of the plants, such as “ Bugles,” “Time-table,” “Canary-weed,” “Virgin 
Mary,” See. ; but we should be glad to know if there is any local explanation of 
“ Heminin’-an’-sewin’” or “Lavender-snip;” or why the Stonecrops are called 
“ Poison- weed.” 
The Note of the Cuckoo. — Mr. A. Halte Macpherson writes : “ Ihope Mrs. 
Blathwayt’s interesting remarks on the note of the Cuckoo may stimulate other 
readers of Nature Notes to make similar observations on the songs of birds 
this coming summer. In the case of birds which have a regular song, as dis- 
tinguished from a call note, it is practically impossible to reduce the sounds to 
musical notation. This is owing to the flexibility of the song and the bird touch- 
ing all sorts of notes intermediate between those we recognise in our scale ; the 
pitch also is frequently extremely high. On the other hand, the cries of such birds 
as the Cuckoo and Owls and the call notes of many of the smaller species can easily 
be tested with a tuning fork. 
“ There seems some doubt as to whether the typical note of the Cuckoo — when 
it is in full song — should be considered a major or a minor third. From the few 
observations I have made, I am inclined to think they usually sing the former 
interval ; and Mrs. Blathwayt remarks that Beethoven gives it as a major third in 
his Pastoral Symphony. But, on the other hand, popular opinion inclines 
strongly to its being a minor third ; and Haydn gives it as such in his Toy Sym- 
phony (G to E, I think). No doubt the interval, like the pitch, varies in different 
birds. Later in the season, about the middle of May, the interval gets rather 
wider ; early in June I have heard a distinct and perfect fourth ; and a few days 
after this almost a fifth. But the cry by this time is very unpleasant, the first 
note being doubled and very ugly, and the second almost inaudible. As the male 
birds, which alone utter the cry according to the best opinion, rarely move far 
from the spot where they take up their stations on their arrival in England, a 
series of valuable observations on the call of an individual bird could be made 
without much difficulty. It would be most interesting to learn to what extent 
the pitch as well as the intervals varied during the season.” 
Appearance of Birds, Flowers, &c. — We have received a large amount 
of information on this subject, as well as some suggestions for the enlargement of 
this department of Nature Notes. Unfortunately instead of any enlargement, we 
are obliged grievously to curtail the notes kindly forwarded, for the reasons given 
in “ Notice to Correspondents.” Miss Tracey records the appearance of the 
hawfinch at Bovey Tracey, on Feb. 23rd, and Mr. Manley Hopkins found the 
same bird at Has emere on Feb. 17th. A hawfinch was found in St. James’s 
