Download Volume 12 here

—
—
—
The Gaelic Names of Birds. 63
Bu tu soalgiiir an niiroiii
'S eoin chrin nan sgiath ruadh,
'S na circeige duiime
A bheireadh gur as a' bliruaicli.
Oft hast thou roamed o'er the hills of Athole
On a cold, wet, misty day,
And there slain the eagle
And the small bird of the red wing,
And the little brown hen
That lays in the heathei*.
Latin— Lacjopns
PTARMIGAN.
vul-garis. Gaelic— Tarmachan, Tarmonach
(Lightfoot). Welsh Coriar yr Alban (Scottish Partridge).
I liave never heard the last Gaelic name in common use, but
as it is given by Lightfoot, who got all his Gaelic names from Dr
Stuart of Killin and Luss, we can have no better authority.
The ptarmigan is a truly Highland bird, only to be found on the
top of our highest mountains, from which it never descends, even
in the most severe weather, but burrows and feeds under the snow.
This gave rise to the old saying " Gus an tig an tarmachan thigh
nan cearc "— till the ptarmigan comes to the hen-house— applied
to anything that will never happen. " Cha chuir fuachd no acras
an tarmachan gu srath "—neither cold nor hunger will send the
ptarmigan down to the strath.
PARTRIDGE.
Latin Perdix cinerea. Gaelic Peirlog (mas., Alex. Macdonald),
Peurstag, Cearc-thomain (fern.) Welsh Coriar, Peli'isen.
The common partridge has increased very much in the Highlands
since the inti'oduction of turnips and the increase of arable
land. The hill partridge, the Perdix cinera var. montana of Sir
William Jardine, is also very common on the hills and higher
glens of the Highlands of Perthshire and Forfarshire. It is a
much handsomer bird than the common partridge.
Latin
— .
RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE.
Perdi.r rxfa. Gaelic — Peti,rstag-dhear(j-c]uimc]i, Cearctho
laain-dhearg-cha sack