this case, is connected with the German häher, a jackdaw, lit. "laughter." Cf. heighaw, a provincial name for the Green Woodpecker.
Bittern was erroneously supposed to be a corruption of bos taurus, in reference to the bird's bellowing capabilities. It is more probably a variation of the Latin butio, an imitative word connected with bubere, to cry.
Stork probably means "the tall bird," connected with Anglo-Saxon stealc, high.
Sheldrake. Sheld, flecked or variegated, simply = shield, in allusion to the ornamentation, with which these weapons were covered. Cf. sheld-apple, a Chaffinch.
Mallard = male-ard. The suffix -ard was frequently added to masculine names for the sake of emphasis. The word therefore rightly refers to the drake only.
Gadwall remains undecipherable.
Teal originally meant "a brood," from telen, to breed; but as to the origin of its use in a specific sense nothing is known.
Garganey, a name first introduced, I believe, by Willughby from Gesner. Nothing is known of its meaning or origin.
Wigeon, Old French vigeon, has perhaps a connection with the Latin vipio, a small Crane with a whistling cry; but this is extremely problematical.
Pochard is said to be a variation of Poacher. Apparently the name at first referred to the Wigeon, in allusion to its supposed habit of seizing (poaching) the food brought to the surface by the diving ducks.
Scoter. See under Kite.
Smew, and similarly smee and smeath, is probably imitative of the bird's "mewing" cry. The suggestion that the word is a corruption of "ice-mew" is untenable.
Capercaillie = Gaelic capull-coille, "great cock (or horse) of the wood." The word capull has probably some connection with Latin caballus.
Grouse, curiously enough, has been falsely formed on the analogy of mouse. The original spelling is grice, from an Old French word griesche, grey, thus giving the meaning of "the grey bird." A derivation from the Welsh grugiar, a heath-hen (grug, heath + iar, a hen) has also been suggested.
