ˈheather-bleat Sc.
[Perversion, after heather, of the OE. name hæfer-blǽte, goat-bleater, f. hæfer goat + blǽtan to bleat: from the noise which it makes in flight, associated in many languages with the bleating of a goat (Newton, Dict. Birds 885; Swainson, Prov. Name Birds 192). So Ger. himmelziege, Fr. chèvre-volante, Gaelic meannan-adhair air-kid, gabhair-adhair sky- or air-goat, etc.]
The Snipe.
| [c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 116/41 Bicoca, hæferblæte, uel pur. Ibid. 260/3. c 1050 Ags. Gloss. ibid. 361/17 Bugium, hæferblæte.] 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Heather-bleet, the mire snipe. 1894 Crockett Raiders xxxvi, The snipe (which is called the heather⁓bleat). Ibid., Farther off a heatherbleat whinnied. |