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The Gaelic Names of Birds. 93
DUCK.
Drake, Gaelic Lcich, Hac.
Duck, Gaelic- Ihtyimty.
FOREIGN BIRDS.
1 will now tinisli by giving a few Gaelic names of foreign
birds, most of which will be found in the Bible (Deut., 14th
chap.), or in Alexander Macdonald's vocabulary :
Eagle, Gaelic lolair.
Gier-eagle, Gaelic lolair-fhionn, lolair-thimchiollac/i
Vulture,
Ossifrage, Gaelic Cnaimh-bkruteach.
Gaelic—Fany, SjrincJiayi-criosach, Precichaii-inyneach.
Vu Iturine, Gaelic Preachanach.
Pelican, Gaelic Pelag, Pelicon, Eim-mor-fasaich.
Ostrich, Gaelic Siruth, Struth-chamhull.
Parrot, G&aMc — Piorraid, Parracait.
Canary, Gaelic Canari.
With this I conclude my list of Gaelic names of birds, having
given a Gaelic name for about 220 different birds, and as most of
them have several different names, making a total of about 61:^
Gaelic names. Though this is a large number, yet it does not
nearly include them all, as there are many local names by which
bii'ds are known in difierent districts of the Highlands, which I
have not Ijeen able to collect, and I shall therefore be very glad,
indeed, if any member of the Society, or anybody else, who may
know any other Gaelic names, anecdotes, proverbs, or poetry connected
with the bird lore of the Highlands, will kindly communicate
them, either to myself, or to the obliging secretary of the
Society, with a view to their perha})s ap})earing in a more complete
form "some ither day." I know many raeml^ers of the Society
are deeply vei'sed in Gaelic bird lore, and I hope they, and all other
lovers of birds, and of the Gaelic language, will, in the words of
the old Gaelic proverb— " Prove it, prove it," by assisting in collecting
and preserving our old bird lore, and I think I may now conclude
by giving the old j^roverb referred to, which, as Sherifl
Nicolson says, is an imitation of the chirping of birds, but wdth a
moral meaning— " Tlia da ian bheag 's a' choill ud thall, 's their an
dara fear ris an fliear eile, ' 'S toigh leam thu, 's toigh leam thu ;'
's their am fear eile, ' Dearbh sin, dearbh sin.'" There are two
little birds in yonder wood, and the one says to the other, " I like
you, I like you;" and the other says, " Prove it, prove it."
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