As might have been expected, there is a long array of peculiar botanical and zoological expressions characteristic of Ulster. Every district has its local names for flowers, plants, birds, and animals, and in these Ulster is peculiarly rich. Potatoes are known as ‘spuds;’ ‘biller’ means water-cress; ‘daffydowndillies’ is a lengthened form of daffodils; ‘mayflower’ is the marsh marigold or _Caltha palustris_. The heads of the common plantain are called ‘cocks’ or ‘fighting-cocks,’ because children make a game of striking them off in mimic warfare. The dock-plant is called the ‘dockan’ (Scotch), and its leaf is a popular remedy for nettle-sting; the wood-sorrel is known as ‘cuckoo-sorrel.’ A still longer list of zoological terms might be made out. The bottle-nosed whale is known as the ‘herring-hog;’ the pollack is called ‘lythe;’ the lobworm used by fishermen for bait is called the ‘lug;’ the stickleback has its name corrupted into ‘spricklybeg;’ the gadfly is known as the ‘cleg’ (which is also its Scotch name); ‘yilly-yorlin’ (also Scotch) is the yellow-hammer; the ‘felt’ is the redwing; the ‘peeweet’ (Scotch again) means the lapwing; the ‘mosscheeper’ is the titlark; the cormorant is known as the ‘scart.’ We now turn to some provincialisms which do not admit of a ready classification. ‘Bis’ is often said for ‘is,’ and ‘bissent’ for ‘is not.’ Here we have an instance of a very common phenomenon—an archaic form surviving as a colloquialism or provincialism. A vast number of our common vulgarisms which we are inclined to regard as breaches of grammar are simply good grammar out of date; in this case, the provincialism almost exactly preserves a very ancient form of the verb. The Anglo-Saxon verb ‘to be’ present tense indicative mood was ‘beom, bist, bith,’ whence no doubt come ‘bis’ and ‘bissent.’ ‘Braird,’ often used in Ulster, as in Scotland, of the young springing grain, is the Anglo-Saxon ‘brord,’ meaning the first blade. ‘Buffer’ in the sense of ‘boxer’ is from the old French word ‘buffe,’ meaning a blow.