Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/244

222 showed specimens of the beetle in a living state, and also of the fir shoots and bark, which gave decided evidence of their destructive habits. Mr. Peter Cameron made some remarks on the specimens.

—The western nomenclature is peculiarly characteristic. All the names in the following list are in common, I might say exclusive, use in the south-eastern part of Cornwall, which is the district I am best acquainted with, and many, if not all, are general in all the country lying west of the Vale of the Exe. The spelling is of course my own, but I think it may be taken to represent the sound pretty correctly. By the way, has it struck any philologist that names of animals, particularly of birds, whose names are under the protection of the rising and birdnesting generation, are more likely to be handed down correctly than perhaps any other words. Is not this worth the attention of the Anthropological Society? In giving the common English name in the following list I have, as to birds, followed Yarrell:—

The name for the Peewit is more local than perhaps any of the others. I do not recollect having heard it out of Cornwall. In that for the Woodpecker "Hood" is the western pronunciation of "Wood"; as, for example,