Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 10:29:36 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Hogchokers et al. [UNMASKED] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii HOGCHOKERS, POPES, AND PIGWITCHES [unmasked] In an earlier post my use of the name Hogchoker, a small species of flounder, drew some commentary. It doesn't sound as if it ought to be but Hogchoker (Trinectes maculatus) is the genuine name used by the scientific community. [I believe Sea Nettle, our common jellyfish, is also both the colloquial name and the proper English name, the best of two worlds if so.] Here is a fanciful enumeration of other species, as it might sound like coming from an Eastern Shore of Virginia waterman. Later on, I'll re-post this with the proper names inserted in brackets: []. [SHOWN HEREWITH BELOW.] Of course many birds are known locally by their "correct" names, such as snipe, Brant, loons, etc. Yes, we got Hogchokers and other fishes, your Spot, Hardheads, Croakers [I think a Hardhead IS a Croaker], trout, and Rock [Striped Bass]. Puppy drum [I forget what this is, perhaps a name for a particular size of a fish species, such as "Snapper Blue" or "Peanut Menhaden"], alewives [herring or Menhaden], and others. Then there's Blowtoads [Northern Puffer a.k.a. Swellfish, Swell Toad, or Balloonfish; "Puffers are so named because of their ability to swell by swallowing water (or air, if they are removed from water) so that they become globular. This habit discourages predation." - C. Richard Robins, "A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America"], Oystercrackers, and Dowdies [These last 2 are what I've always called our common, brown Toadfish.], too. And Doubleheads [Cownose Rays], but you can't eat them but they're good for bait. Far as crabs go, it's like the Eskimos. They got all sorts of names for different kinds of ice and snow. Down here we got names for all the crab types. There's busters, popes, shedders, softshells, papershells, and doublers (the one underneath's always a softcrab), your ordinary hard crab, and, of course, there's jimmies and sooks. [These are all names for various sorts of Blue Crabs; jimmies are males, sooks females] Now birds, that's somethin' else. Lot of them little sandpipers, we got all sorts. The big ones, the Straight-billed Curlew [Marbled Godwit], they used to shoot and eat them. Sea Crows [American Oystercatcher], too. And Curlew [Whimbrel], as well. In the old days they'd also shoot Calicobacks [Ruddy Turnstone], Robin Snipe [Red Knot], and Sewin' Machines [dowitcher]. And Black-breasted Beetlers [Black-bellied Plover]. Ducks was commoner then but there's still lots of Little Dippers [Bufflehead], Clubheads (also called Whifflers or Whistlers) [Common Goldeneye], and Southerlies, which we sometimes call South, South Southerlies, or Pintails [Long-tailed Duck, formerly Oldsquaw]. Out on the ocean Skunkheads [Surf Scoter] are real common and other types of sea coots [scoter]. You go real far out to sea, farther than I go for shad in February, you get tuna birds [shearwater] in summer. Never see them from land. Other places got more ponds and freshwater than we do, they got more ducks like Sprigs [Northern Pintail], Spoonbills [Northern Shoveler] and teal. Oh, we got them, too, but not many. In the old days there's was but one gull in summer and that was the Cacklin' Gull, called Soft Crab Gull [Laughing Gull], too. Now, the Winter Gulls [Herring Gull] is nesting on the islands as well. Time was, you'd never see a winter gull here but in winter. All the old names, like Egg Harbor, Great Egging Beach, and the like, that was cause they'd go out there and gather gull eggs and they would make a good omelet or two with that. Then let' em alone to do their business and nest again. Big groups of gulls and strikers, Little Strikers [Forster's or Common Tern], and Big Strikers [Royal Tern], still nest on the islands as well as Flood Gulls, which we also call the Scissorbill or Cutwater [Black Skimmer]. What you call the cormorant, well, you know what sort of names they have, and Shag is one of the more polite ones. No need to tell you the others. Those are words a smart person don't say no more. Although you might say Shitpoke, but not t'other, unless you were to say Pocomoke Goose or Baltimore Goose. I know one thing, there's more and more each year. [Double-crested Cormorant] In early April or late March there are a lot of little divers, we call Pigwitches [Horned Grebe]. And in the summer there's the little heron, called Scowp [Green Heron] 'cause of the way they call when you jump him. Of course you know the White Crane [Great Egret] and the Blue Crane, the blue one sometimes called Forty Quarts of Soup or Old Cranky [Great Blue Heron]. Them night herons, I believe you say, here is called the Wop or Bumcutter [Black-crowned Night Heron] cause of what he sounds like. [There is a hammock north of Ewell on Smith Island, MD, known as Woptown.] Them fish ducks, there's not much to eatin' one, but they're good to shoot at anyway. You get the Hairy Head or French Pheasant [Hooded Merganser] in the little sloughs and ditches, up the guts, the Sheldrake or regular Pheasant [Red-breasted Merganser] in the bays and ocean. Every so often, when there's a big freezeup or blizzard in Jersey, or Canada, then the woodcock pile in here like crazy. Take Hans' spaniel out and you'd flush one every twenty feet. Up north they call them Labrador Twisters or Bogsuckers. In Ninety-three we got a real cold rain, coated all the rushes and trees with ice. Everything. The woodcock like to froze. Chicken Hawks [Red-tailed Hawk] was hitting them right off the grass. Goin' down 600 woodcocks, blackbirds, Killdees [Killdeer], Field Larks [Eastern Meadowlark], and Canaries [American Goldfinch] was all along the roadside. Couldn't help but hit some with the truck. Big old Sicklebill [Glossy Ibis]. Never used to see him at all until the sixties. Now there's white ones [White Ibis], too. In with the herons and cranes. In September, when there's doves before the Partridge [Northern Bobwhite] season, you can also shoot the Sage Hens or Marsh Guineas [Clapper Rail] when the tide's good and flooded. Time was, the tradition for that was a big thing. Big shots would come from Washington to do it. Nowsdays hardly anyone bothers but if you breast him out and put bacon strips on it, it is right tasty. That's about the smart of it. And when the tide starts to slack, that's when your Sage Hen will start to hollerin'. There's other smaller mudhens [rail], too, and such, about the size of a Field Lark, but you don't see them as much as you see the Sage Hen. Also in September and sometimes in August you have Reedbirds, or Ricebirds [Bobolink] as they're also known, pilin' into the reed beds at Oyster late in the day. Other places I know they get shot, or used to, 'cause they'd feed on wild rice, and come already stuffed. Onlyest thing I know, there's not as much huntin' as there used to be and that's too bad, to see that tradition dyin' out. Of course, I haven't hunted since I was a boy but it is nice to see a bunch of fellas out on the marsh enjoyin' themselves. Get away from the little old lady and cut loose a little. Even if you come back with nothin' to show you're bound to be better off. Nothin' better than a day on the marsh or water. Right fair straight. Best to all.-Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. 74077.3176@compuserve.com. 215-248-4120. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================