Download Volume 12 here

— —
—
The Gaelic Names of Birds. 35
this l)ii(l l)y the names of Richard aiul llobiu. In his '' Sung of
Summer," " Oran an t' Sambiaidh," lie says
"Agus Robin 'g a bheusadh
Air a' gheig os a chionn,
Gur glan gall-fheadau liidiurd
A' seinu nan cuisleannau grinn."
And in " The Sugar Brook," " Allt-an-t Siuoair "
" Bha Richard 's Robin liru-dliearg
Ri seinn, 's fear dhiul)h 'n a bhous."
Macintyre again uses Bru-dhearg. in Coire-Cheathaich. He says :
" An druid 's an bru-dhearg, le nioran uinich,
Ri ceileir sunntach bu sliiubhlach i-ann."
—
—
I Iiave never lieard the name Nigidh, for the robin, anywliere in
rommon use, but it is given in the Highhmd Society's Dictionary.
The common name in Perthsliive is Roban-roid. Most writers
on birds have taken notice of tlie many wonderful places in which
this bird will sometime build its nest. I remember, when a boy,
l)reserving as a curiosity for several years a robin's nest which
was actually l)uilt inside the ribs of a dried skeleton of a buzzard
hawk, which the keepers had nailed to the back wall of a stable
many years before. The impudent bird reared its young brood in
that strange nesting place to the astonishment of the natives.
Had that hawk known the fate that was before it, it might well
say with Napoleon that there was only one step between the sub-
linie and the ridiculous.
Latin
liLUE-TIIKOATED WARBLER.
Phcjenicura Suecica. Gaelic
REDSTART.
—
Ceileiriche, Orauaiche^
Latin -PJicenicnra rvticiUa. Gaelic Ceann-deary, Ceann-dltear-
(jan, Earr-dhearg^ Ton-dhearfj. AVelsh Rhondl gocli.
Latin
—
—
STONE-CHAT.
Scwicola ruhicola. Gaelic Cloichearan, Clacharan (Grey).
Welsh Clochder y cerrig.
Sheriff Nicolson gives the following old Lismore saying,
which, he adds, is suggestive of the devolopment theory :
" Cloicheirean spagach, ogha na muile-maig."— The waddling stone-
chat, the f)-og's grand-child.