Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
HEATHER-BLEAT(ER), n. Also -bleet (Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 149); -blu(i)tter (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Kcb.3 1929); †-bloter; hether blutter. Cf. Earn-Bleater. The common snipe, Capella gallinago (Per. 1825 Jam., -bleater; Lnk. Ib., -bleat; Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl., -bleat; Sc. 1885 C. Swainson Brit. Birds 192; Cai., Inv., Mry., Bnff. (-bleat), Abd., Knr., Gall., s.Sc., Uls. 1956). Occas. applied to the bittern (Ayr. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 II. 72; Kcb.3 1929). Cf. Bleater, Blitter, n.1, Bluiter, n.4Dmf. c.1700 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. (1901) 58:
Myresnipes (which like a Feldefare), called heatherbleet. In summer evenings they soar high in the air with a quivering voice.Sc. c.1720 Ramsay's Works (1853) I. 32:
There were also printed some verses called, “Allan Ramsay metamorphosed to a Heather-bloter Poet; in a pastoral between Aegon and Melibiae.”Sc. 1820 Scott Monastery iv.:
“But what saw she in the bog, then,” said Dame Glendinning, “forbye moor-cocks and heather-blutters?”Slk. 1820 Hogg Winter Ev. Tales II. 297:
Very like the sounds uttered by the bird, called in this country the Heather Bleater, when he wings the air in the gloaming.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 258:
The laverock and the lark, The bawkie and the bat, The heather-bleet, the mire-snipe, How many burds be that?wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 34:
Maybe, my lord judge, ye'll be able to explain what he means, for to me there's just as muckle sense in the blether o' the heather blutter.Kcb. 1894 Crockett Raiders xli.:
I set my hands to my mouth. . . . and made the whinny of the heatherbleat palpitate across the moor.Cai.9 1946:
“The mire-snipe, the heather-bleat, and the horse-gowk all sleep in the same skin at neicht.” These are different names for the snipe according to its various calls.
