on who has been easily deceived in some matter is often
described as a "gull," or is said to have been "gulled." _Gull_ is
now the name of a sea-bird, but in Early English it was used to
describe any young bird, and from the idea that it is easy to deceive
such youngsters came the use of the word to describe foolish people.

Another name of a bird used with almost the opposite meaning is
_rook_. This name is given to people who are constantly cheating
others, especially at card games. It was earlier used, like _gull_, to
describe the person cheated. It then came to be used as a verb meaning
"to cheat," and from this was used to describe the person cheating
instead of the person cheated.

Other names of birds not quite so common used to describe stupid
people are _dotterel_ and _dodo_. The dotterel is a bird which is very
easily caught, and it was from this fact that it got its name, which
comes from _dote_, to be "silly" or "feeble-minded." When the name of
the bird is used to describe a silly person, the word is really, as an
interesting writer on the history of words says, turning "a complete
somersault." The same is the case with _dodo_, which is also used, but
not so often, to describe a stupid person. This bird also got its name
from a word which meant "foolish." It comes from the Portuguese word
_doudo_, which means "simpleton."

We have a few verbs also taken from the names of animals and birds. We
say a person "apes" another when he tries to imitate him. This word
comes, of course, from the fact that the ape is always imitating any
action performed by other people.

A person who follows another persistently is said to "dog" his steps.
This expression comes, of course, from the fact of dogs following
their masters. Another expression is to "hound" a person to do
something, by which we mean persecute him. This comes from the idea of
a hound tracking its victim down. Another of these words which has the
idea of persecution is _badger_. When some one constantly talks about
a subject which is unpleasant to another, or continually tries to
persuade him to do something against his will, he is said to be
"badgering" him. The badger is an animal which burrows into the ground
in winter, and dogs are set to worry it out of its hiding-place. The
badger is the victim and not the persecutor, as we might think from
the use of the verb.

The verb _henpeck_, to describe the teasing of her husband by a
disagreeable wife, co