15 JULY 1916, Page 13

THE RETURN OF THE BITTERNS.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "EFEcrATOR."]

SIR,—It is a far cry from West Wales to Norfolk, but one of the local Norfolk names of the bittern mentioned in your issue of June 24th brings out a curious bit of race history. "Bumpycoss " is no doubt the same as " Bwmp-y-gors " (the Welsh name for bittern), which means the booming of the gorse. It is strange that the old British name should have lingered so long on the East Coast, so little altered, after the British inhabitants had been driven west by the Angles.—I am,