Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1824, 1927, 1993
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MOCHRUM, n. The name of a coastal parish in Wigtownshire, in Combs.: 1. Mochrum elder, the cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo (Wgt. 1878 Zoologist 428; Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 151, Gall. 1963), from its black plumage resembling the Sunday garb of an elder of the church. Cf. Cowe'en Elders, id.; 2. Mochrum-laird, id.3. Mochrum scart, = 1.1. Kcb. 1927 Gallovidian Annual 25:
Along the South-west Coast the Scart [Cormorant] is known by the nickname of the “Mochrum Elder”.2. Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 422:
Mochrum laird. A name for the black cormorant; . . . because they have been, as it were, proprietors there of a piece of wild shore, for an unknown length of time. Wgt. 1993:
A Mochrum elder has always been known as a Mochrum Scart to me and I have seldom heard your term for the cormorant used locally and I lived in the parish of Mochrum for many years.
