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The cuckoo and the gowk,
The laverock and the lark,
The twire-snipe, the weather-bleak
How many birds is that?

Biddle-rhyme, 17th Century.

55C872

INTRODUCTION.

FOLLOWING is a list of popular and local names applied by
English-speaking people to birds which particularly interest
gunners : including, however, only those species which are found
in the eastern half of the United States ; and, again, only those
birds which bear aliases to a confusing degree.

One reason that these non-scientific titles have never before
been so thoroughly brought together, is a belief that an unravel-
ling of so tangled a skein was practically impossible : so many
names being used for more than one species, and so many hav-
ing been given to one and the same bird. Ornithologists have
therefore had the field much to themselves, giving us their long
lists of scientific synonyms with little rivalry from the gunners'
side of the house.

I believe that the following pages will not only make very
conspicuous the difficulties in this branch of our nomenclature,
but will show to a great extent what can be done in the prem-
ises towards elucidation, and materially simplify the confusion of
tongues existing among book-makers, pot-hunters, and sports-
men.

In most cases, where satisfactory identification of species has
been arrived at, the names given by early as well as later writers
are quoted.

When assigning a name to a locality (without further com-
ment) I have not meant to imply that no other alias of the
species is there used, nor that the name is peculiar to the place ;
but simply that I happen to know of its use in that quarter.
Some may feel that I have been over-particular, or unnecessarily

yj INTRODUCTION.

explicit in assigning names to individual localities, but I believe
that upon a more mature consideration they will thank me for
avoiding the temptation to smooth my text by generalizations.
I regret that from one cause and another I have not been able
to be thus explicit in all cases.

The principal reasons for this multiplication of names are
obvious, viz. : differences in size, shape, and color between males
and females ; periodical changes in plumage ; mistaking one
variety for another ; and, more particularly, differences of opin-
ion as to the names most appropriate.

Many of those English names which perhaps we all ought to
adopt, such as " Hooded Merganser," " Hudsonian Godwit,"
"Bartramian Sandpiper," "Pectoral Sandpiper," etc., are used
about as little by the inhabitants of the United States generally
as the strictly scientific names ; while certain appellations given
in our later and best ornithological works, as common among
gunners, are quoted from bird-books belonging to a period when
popular names were to some extent different from those of to-
day. But, though

"Use may revive the obsoletest word,
And banish those that now are most ill vogue,"

our gunners have, as a rule, proved themselves a very conserva-
tive class, continuing the bird names of their forefathers persist-
ently, despite the teachings and sneers of scientists and book-
learned sportsmen. Many of these names, probably, appear now
for the first time in print, yet few are of recent origin ; and
though some may be a little time-worn, they are time-honored,
and as familiar in certain localities as " cow," " dog," and " cat."
I would remind any who may think it unwise, or idle, to record
provincialisms so simple and apparently unmeaning as some of
these, that such a view of the subject is itself a provincialism
most unreasonable. Names which appear to us absurdly gro-
tesque and outlandish are mediums of communication between
men as wise as ourselves, though educated in a different school,
and the homely nomenclature of those who shoot, not alone for

INTRODUCTION. vii

sport, but for their daily bread, should command respect. It is
just now painfully popular to misrepresent and malign the so-

3d " pot-hunters ;" yet these dear old fellows taught us pretty
.ach all we know about hunting, and from them ornithology
has gathered its most important contributions.

I have tried to describe the .species in as .simple English as
possible, because I think this freedom from technicalities will be
grateful to many. Few, even among our most intelligent col-
lege-bred sportsmen, can form a very clear idea of a bird's ap-
pearance from the " shop-talk " of scientists, even though pro-
vided with a glossary ; and it may be broadly .stated, with quite
a showing of truth, that the descriptions commonly encountered
in ornithological works (particularly those of to-day) are only
intelligible to those who do not need them.

To further avoid obscurity, I will say that the term "young,"
as used in my descriptions, refers not to the downy young or
the fledglings, but to those birds which have attained, or nearly
attained, adult size, and which differ or not, according to their
species and sex, from one or both of the old birds.

I will also explain exactly how the measurements " length "
and " extent " are obtained. To ascertain the first, lay the bird
on its back, hold tip of bill even with edge of table with one
hand, pull back the legs with your other hand, and note the
point reached by end of longest tail-feather. To ascertain " ex-
tent," spread the wings fully out (the bird still on its back),
holding tip of one wing flush with edge of table (or other start-
ing-point), and note point reached by the other wing^tip. This
measurement has nothing to do with how far the bird itself
spread its wings, but shows how far we can spread them, without
interfering in the least with construction or natural possibilities.

It may be also well to state here, that the colors of bills and
legs given are those of life. In a .short time after death (some-
times in a few hours) these colors, particularly those of the
bills, change very materially, the brighter hues giving place to
a more and more uniform and- dusky tint.

viii INTRODUCTION.

The illustrations are by Mr. Edwin Sheppard, of the Academy
of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia ; and the scientific titles are
those adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union, and pub-
lished in its Check List, 1886.

I have thought that a book which included those birds only
in which gunners and sportsmen are interested — pictures of the
different species and plumages, descriptions in plain English,
full lists of common names, as well as book-names — would, if
decently constructed, be a peculiarly intelligible book of refer-
ence for those who go gunning. A good picture is worth more
for the purpose of identification than all the descriptions ever
written, and a picture in simple black and white is in many cases
more useful than a colored one, that is to say, for birds whose
plumages are entirely different at different seasons, and whose
markings and colors necessarily pass through so many inter-
mediate stages. It should be always borne in mind that a bird
does not change its plumage as a snake does its skin ; that it is
impossible to describe each and every variation, and that it is
better to leave a great deal to the intelligence of the reader,
than to run the risk of hopelessly confusing Mm by too much
detail.

Many will be surprised at the large number of names col-
lected, and some will doubtless wonder why I have omitted this
or that name very familiar to themselves. I certainly cannot
hope to have gathered all the names of any species, but I feel
that I have been a little more than ordinarily careful to keep the
lists free from error as far as they go.

I here thank collectively the Eastern gunners who have
helped me with material for this work, particularly those living
by the Great Lakes, and along our Atlantic coast, with whom I
have spent so much 'time, and formed so many pleasant friend-
ships during the past four years.

NAMES AND PORTRAITS OF BIRDS.

No. 1.
Branta canadensis.

Head, neck, bill, and legs, black ; patch about throat, and
feathers above and below tail, white. Upper parts of plumage
principally brown, this fading into light gray beneath ; brown
of rump and tail darker, or blackish.

Length a little over three feet ; extent, five feet or more.

Kange, as given in A. O. U. Check List : " Temperate North
America, breeding in the northern United States and British
Provinces ; south in Avinter to Mexico."

CANADA GOOSE: COMMON WILD GOOSE: BIG GRAY GOOSE:
COMMON GRAY GOOSE— Early writers (Hutchins and Hearne)
using the latter name for this fowl, but giving that of " Canada
Goose" to No. 2, a very similar but smaller bird.

Eeferred to not infrequently as HONKER or OLD HONKER
in recognition of its hoarse notes, or "honking." At More-
head, North Carolina, REEF GOOSE (No. 2 being known there
as Marsh Goose); and Dresser writes in Birds of Southern
Texas, 1865-66: "The shore gunners are well aware of the
difference between this [No. 1] and B. hutchinsii [No. 2], calling
the former the BAY GOOSE, and the latter the Prairie Goose."

Early authors tell of its being known at Hudson's Bay as
BUSTARD,* and Sir John Kichardson, in Fauna Boreali-Ameri-

* The bustard of ornithologists belongs to the ostrich family, the Great
Bustard ( Otis tarda) being the largest land bird of Europe.

2

BIRD NAMES.

[No. 1.

cana, 1831, speaks of its arrival in the fur countries as "hailed
with great joy by the natives of the woody and swampy dis-
tricts, who depend principally upon it for subsistence during
the summer. . . . One goose, which when fat weighs about nine
pounds, is the daily ration for one of the Company's servants
during the season, and is reckoned equivalent to two snow-
geese, or three ducks, or eight pounds of buffalo and moose
meat, or two pounds of pemmican, or a pint of maize and four
ounces of suet."

In appendix to Townsend's Narrative of Journey Across
Kocky Mountains, etc., 1839, it is BLACK-HEADED GOOSE; and
some writers have termed it CANADA BRANT; and in England
it has been called the CRAVAT GOOSE (Buffon's L Oie d cravate).
Yarrell speaks of its being entitled to a place in his British
Birds, specimens being so frequently shot " which do not exhibit
either in their actions or plumage any signs of having escaped
from confinement."

No. 2.

Branta canadensis hutcliinsii.

A small variety of our common wild goose No. 1, and in ap-
pearance (excepting size) like it in all respects.

Length about twenty-seven inches ; extent a little over four
feet.

~Not common on, or very near to, our Eastern coast, but numer-
ous in the West during migrations. Breeds in Arctic regions.

HUTCHINS'S GOOSE: HUTCHINS'S CANADA GOOSE: HUTCH-
INS'S BARNACLE GOOSE (the Barnacle Goose proper, Branta
leucopsis, " casual in Eastern North America," was named from
an early belief that it originated in the shell of a barnacle, or,
rather, was the natural fruit of a little crustacean) : HUTCHINS'S
BRANT: LESSER (CANADA GOOSE: SMALL GRAY GOOSE: LITTLE
WILD GOOSE.

Hearne writes, referring to this variety in his Journey to
Northern Ocean, published 1795, "CANADA GOOSE, or PISK A
SISH, as it is called by the Indians, as well as the English in
Hudson's Bay," and Kichardson, in Boat Voyage, 1851, speaks
of its being called ESKIMO GOOSE in Kupert's Land.

In Audubon's Ornithological Biography, Vol. III., 1835, we
find under the heading of Hutchins's Goose, the following:
" In the first article in this volume, that of the Canada Goose,
... I had occasion to allude to a small species, called by the
gunners of Maine the Winter or Flight Goose, which they de-
scribed to me as resembling the large and common kind in
almost every particular except its size. Although it was not
my good-fortune while there to meet with the bird spoken of
by men who were well acquainted with it, I have no doubt that

4. BIRD NAMES. [No. 2.

it is the very species which has been named in honor of Mr.
Hutchins." In the " first article," to which Audubon refers, we
do not find " Winter Goose," but the other name is introduced
as follows : " It is alleged in the state of Maine that a distinct
species of Canada Goose resides there, which is said to be much
smaller than the one now under your notice, and is described
as resembling it in all other particulars. Like the true Canada
Goose, it builds a large nest which it lines with its own down ;
sometimes it is placed on the sea-shore, at other times by the
margin of a fresh-water lake or pond. That species is distin-
guished there by the name of flight Goose, and is said to be
entirely migratory, whereas the Canada Goose is resident."
Linsley says, in Catalogue of the Birds of Connecticut, 1843:
" Anser hutchinsii, it is believed, is not unfrequently taken here
in the spring, and is called Southern Goose, because it does not
winter here." Though this name " Southern Goose " is still re-
membered in Connecticut, at Stratford, where Linsley wrote,
and at Milford as well, the descriptions of the goose to which it
belongs, as given by the different gunners, vary very materially ;
they all agree, however, that the name belongs to a variety
smaller than the common wild goose, and very rarely, or never,
now encountered.

As these quotations from Audubon and Linsley are both so
worded as to leave at least some little room for doubt concerning
the local names included, it seems better to give said names just
as they appear in the text, without using a more emphatic type.

Giraud writes (1844): "At the eastern extremity of Long
Island this species is not uncommon. At Montauk it is known
by the name of MUD GOOSE."

In an article about common names of wildfowl in Western
States (Forest and Stream, May 27, 1886), Mr. J. P. Leach, of
Eushville, Illinois, states that the gunners include this with
other small geese under the general term " brant," and that
this bird is " further distinguished " as GOOSE BRANT.

In the neighborhood of Morehead, North Carolina, MARSH
GOOSE, and on the coast of Texas, PRAIRIE GOOSE. (Compare
names of this variety with those of No. 1.)

No. 3.

Branta bernicla.

Head and bill, with neck all around, and extreme fore part
of body black ; on either side of neck a group of white scratches,
as indicated in picture. The back, with front of wings, brown,

the feathers paler at their ends ; remainder of wings black, or
nearly so, as is the tail ; the latter, however, being almost con-
cealed by covering of white feathers technically known as tail
" coverts." Under parts of plumage grayish brown, the ends of

6 BIRD NAMES. [No. 3.

the feathers touched with white, this producing transverse bars.
Under parts of other specimens, more correctly described as
white, shaded beneath black of fore-breast and along the sides
with ill-defined bars of light brown ; in all cases becoming pure
white back of legs.

Length about twenty-four inches ; extent forty-six to forty-
eight inches. Legs blackish.

Range, as given in A. O. U. Check List, northern parts of
Northern Hemisphere ; in North America chiefly on Atlantic
coast ; rare in the interior, or away from salt water.

BRANT: BRENT: BRANT GOOSE: BRENT GOOSE: BRAND
GOOSE: COMMON BRANT: has been also called BLACK BRANT,
though this latter name is generally applied, and more appropri-
ately, to Branta nigricans, a similar but darker bird, rare on our
Eastern coast. The old names " brant," " brent," etc., refer to
the dark color : it is ~burnt or branded goose. It ranks high for
table use, and being exceptionally fine when shot late in spring,
the term " May Brant " has long had a momentous meaning
among epicures.

We read in Yarrell's British Birds that " in Shetland it is
called HORRA GOOSE, from the numbers that frequent Horra
Sound," and the Rev. Charles Swainson says, in his Provincial
Names of British Birds, 1885 : " From the cry of this bird, which
is varied, sounding like the different expressions ' prott,' ' rott,'
and 'crock,' are derived the names ROTT GOOSE, or RAT GOOSE:
ROAD GOOSE, or ROOD GOOSE: CLATTER GOOSE (East Lothian):
QUINK GOOSE: CROCKER." Mr. Swainson also mentions Horra
Goose, and HORIE GOOSE as in use at Shetland Isles, and adds
that BARNACLE is "the common name for this species in Ire-
land— a name entirely erroneous. But in some parts the true
Barnacle Goose (B. leucopsis) and the Brant are distinguished as
the Norway Barnacle and the WEXFORD BARNACLE."

(See index for other " brant " geese.)

No. 4.
Snow Geese.

Adult. White, with end of wing black ; foreparts of plu-
mage frequently stained with reddish brown, this generally more
noticeable on front of head. Bill commonly light purplish red,
but variable from a more dusky tone to flesh-color, with black

Adult Snow G

"grinning" recess along its sides. Legs deep purplish red,
though also variable.

Young. Upper parts bluish gray or lead-color, more or less
varied with white ; end of wing (or flight-feathers) as in adult.
Bill and legs dusky.

8

BIRD NAMES.

[Xo. 4.

Two varieties are recognized by ornithologists, viz. : Lesser
Snow Goose, Chen hyperborea, and Greater, Chen hyperlorea ni-
valis, these being practically alike in form and coloration.

Measurements of smaller bird somewhere about as follows:
Length twenty-five inches ; extent fifty-two inches. The larger
variety : length twenty-seven to thirty-one inches ; extent fifty-
six to sixty-two inches. The two grading towards one another
confusingly.

Another, and less common plumage is that formerly, or at
different times, regarded as belonging to a bird distinct from
either of the preceding, and again as representing simply a
stage in the development of the Snow Goose dress. Birds thus
arrayed have been labelled Chen ccerulescens. This name is

placed in the " Hypothetical List " of the new Check List,* as
" possibly " representing a separate variety. These birds are of
the same shape as the snow geese, and are surely most closely
allied to them. Head and upper half of neck white ; remaining
plumage principally grayish brown with more or less bluish gray,
the feathers ending paler ; edgings of white to back portions of
plumage ; tone of lower neck dusky ; wings plain light bluish

* Published by the Am. Ornithologists' Union, 1886.

BIRD NAMES. . 9

gray with their flight-feathers ("primaries" and "secondaries")
black or nearly so ; rump light gray or more whitish ; coloration
of bill and legs about as in previously described snow geese.*

Names of the whiter birds, as follows : SNOW GOOSE : WHITE
BRANT (latter name very general in the West) : WAVEY or COM-
MON WAVEY of Hudson's Bay region. J. W. Long, in his Amer-
ican Wild Fowl Shooting, speaks of their being known in the
West somewhere as FISH BRANT (an absurdly inappropriate and
libellous designation).

Colonel J. H. Powel writes me from his home in Newport,
K. I. : "I have heard it called MEXICAN GOOSE in this State (I
have killed several here)."f Baird, Brewer, and Eidgway record
RED GOOSE as in use on the Jersey coast (a name mentioned also
in Wilson, 1814), suggested I suppose by color of bill and legs,
and the reddish stains.

These birds visit the Delaware regularly, many of them
congregating near Bay Side, Cumberland Co., N. J., the species
being there known as TEXAS GOOSE.

Names of Chen ccerulescens, as follows: BLUE GOOSE:
BLUE SNOW GOOSE: BLUE WAVEY: BLUE -WINGED GOOSE:
WHITE-HEADED GOOSE or WHITE-HEAD: BALD-HEADED BRANT
or BALD BRANT.

Though snow geese are rare in most of our Eastern States,
they are exceedingly common in many parts of the West, col-
lecting in countless numbers on the prairies, or transforming
river sandbars into islands of glistening snow. They decoy less
readily than the Canadian and Hutchins's geese, and fly much
higher while passing to and from their feeding-grounds.

* Since writing the above, I have become thoroughly convinced that C.
ccerulescens is a species by itself, distinct from the other geese herein described.

t In Bogardus's Field, Cover, and Trap Shooting, edited by Charles J.
Foster, we read of these birds, with species Nos. 2 and 5, being known as
" Mexican geese " in portions of the "West, this term distinguishing them
collectively from the "common wild goose," No. 1.

No. 5.

Anser albifrons gambeli.

Adult. Upper parts principally warm grayish brown, the
broad ends of the feathers narrowly edged with brownish white,
the pale edgings turned to pure white on tail and certain feath-
ers of the wings ; the head and upper neck of closer mixture,
or nearly plain brown ; extreme front of head (next to bill)
white, this white intensified by the brown just back of it, which
is of a deeper tint, or blackish. Breast, in high state of plu-

No. 5. Adult.

No. 5.]

BIRD NAMES.

11

mage, blackish brown broken only by a few pale or white edgings
to the feathers, but, as more often seen, a blotchy mixture of
black and Avhite ; the feathers of rump, and those beneath tail,
pure white. Color of bill varying with different specimens, from
flesh color and yellowish, to darker and more reddish tint ; the
nail at end white or nearly so. Legs and feet orange, the webs
lighter, and claws white.

Young. Front of head deep brown instead of white. No
black on breast. Bill dull in tone, with nail at end blackish.

No. 5. Young.

Length twenty-seven inches ; extent sixty inches.

Its range, as given in A. O. TJ. Check List, is " North Amer-
ica, breeding far northward; in winter south to Mexico and
Cuba."

Though a familiar species to a majority of Western gunners,
it is one which we in the East know but very little about.

WHITE -FRONTED GOOSE, or AMERICAN WHITE -FRONTED
GOOSE (the latter distinguishing it from European variety
Anser alUfrons): LAUGHING GOOSE: HARLEQUIN BRANT: PIED

] 2 BIRD NAMES. [No. 5.

BRANT. Known in various parts of the "West as PRAIRIE BRANT,
SPECKLED BELLY, and SPECKLED BRANT, and very commonly
as BRANT simply, this being, in other words, the brant where
hunters are unfamiliar with Eastern bird, Branta ~bernida (No. 3.),
or with Pacific coast variety, B. nigricans.

In a letter from Mr. A. B. Pearson, of San Diego, Cal., this
species is referred to as the "YELLOW-LEGGED GOOSE or GRAY
BRANT," and spoken of as " fairly plentiful" there "from Novem-
ber to March."

No. 6.
Anas boschas.

Adult male (in "full" plumage). Head and upper neck
brilliant green, with white ring just below ; remainder of neck
with fore-breast chestnut or chocolate brown. Upper parts of
body brown and gray; around tail deep black with greenish

gloss; a tuft of these black feathers turning forward above
tail into a little curl. Sides of body white, waved with dusky
lines ; belly similar, but more grayish white, and very minutely
waved. Wings brownish gray with iridescent mark, or " spec-

BIRD NAMES.

[Xo. 6.

ulum," of purplish blue bordered with white and black. Bill
greenish yellow ; legs reddish orange.

Size very variable, about two feet in length, and three feet
or more in extent. (One old drake now before me spreads nearly
forty inches.)

Female. A little smaller than male, with similar wings and
feet ; bill blotchily marked blackish and orange. General plu-
mage of upper parts dusky brown variegated with light brown
or dead-grass color, this latter tint paling to Avhitish here and
there ; markings about head and neck fine and streaky ; crown

No. 6. Female.

of head dark ; throat plain buff ; under surface of body varying
with different specimens from buff to grayish or soiled white,
and spotted with dusky brown.

This is the original of our most common domesticated duck.
Though usually shy and suspicious, I have found them feeding
with farm-yard cousins in close proximity to barns and dwell-
ing-houses. They are peculiarly ready (male and female) to
mate with ducks of other species, and hybrids from these con-
nections are not rare. The offspring of Mallard (Xo. 6) and
Dusky -duck (Xo. 7) are raised in large numbers at Bellport,.

No. 6.] BIRD NAMES. 15

Long Island, by Capt. R. L. Petty, and other old baymen. The
cross was originally obtained from eggs found on a neighboring
marsh, and hatched under a hen. The birds differ greatly in
color, the mixed parentage showing itself in numerous combi-
nations. The female is astonishingly savage during incubation,
flying at one's boot like a mad dog.

Though Mallards visit a few localities in New England
quite regularly (viz., Middleborough Ponds, Mass., vicinity about
mouth of Connecticut River, &c.), New-Englanders, as a rule,
have few opportunities of familiarizing themselves with this
wild stock ; and I have heard many gunners tell of losing or
nearly losing good shots at these birds, under the supposition
that they were the property of a neighbor, so closely do they
resemble the barn-yard fowl.

MALLARD: GREEN-HEAD: WILD DRAKE: WILD DUCK: COM-
MON WILD DUCK. In English works that treat of wildfowl,
the name DUCK alone distinguishes it, other varieties being
referred to as " Widgeon," " Porchard," " Scaup-duck," etc.

At Wilmington, N. C. ; Charleston, S. C. ; Savannah, Ga. ;
and in Florida at St. Augustine, and Sanford, ENGLISH DUCK:
and in Louisiana FRENCH DUCK.

The female (believed by many a distinct species) is known to
marketmen and others at Detroit, to the "punters" of St. Clair
Flats, at Point Pelee (near head of Lake Erie), West Barn-
stable, Mass., and in Atlantic Co., New Jersey, as GRAY DUCK,*

* Though as a rule " Gray Duck " stands in New England for female No. 13
(see both 9 and 13), the name is occasionally borrowed for this less common
species, that is to say, when the latter appears unattended by full-feathered
drake. The two females look near enough alike to be mistaken for each other
by careless observers, and it may be noted that Mr. F. C. Browne, in a list of
"gunners' names " (Forest and Stream, Nov. 9, 1876), gives the Mallard's name
" English Duck " as locally applied at Plymouth Bay to No. 13. I was told at
West Barnstable that their " Gray Duck " looked " exactly like a common tame
one," and always had " a bright blue spot on its wing." Desiring more evi-
dence, I asked that the first one killed might be sent me, and a few weeks
later received a gray Mallard, it being, I was told, one of three seen.

16 BIRD NAMES. [No. 6.

this name being used in like manner on the Niagara by some of
the gunners, though applied more commonly there to No. 13.

In Baltimore, the female is GRAY MALLARD, the marketmen
furnishing their patrons with three varieties of mallard, as fol-
lows.: "green-head," "gray mallard," "black mallard," the last-
named variety being Anas obscura, No. 7. The name " gray
mallard " is also commonly used (for No. 6) at Washington, D. C.,
and Alexandria, Va., though generally in these localities to in-
clude the full-plumaged drake as well.

The species is several times referred to by Lewis and Clarke,
1814, as DUCKINMALLARD. If this word occurred but once it
might be considered a typographical error, but it certainly seems
to have been so printed intentionally. Old writers commonly
referred to this fowl as the " duck and mallard." Bartram, for
example, in his Travels through North and South Carolina,
etc., 1791, speaks of "the great wild duck, called duck and mal-
lard ;" not meaning duck or mallard (though, as previously stated,
the single word "duck" sometimes distinguishes this from all
other species) but duck and drake — mallard being derivatively
male. The above queer name is therefore believed to have grown
from this old custom.

At Hudson's Bay, according to Fauna Boreali - Americana,
1831, STOCK DUCK; and we find the following in Eev. Charles
Swainson's Provincial Names of British Birds, 1885: "MIRE
DUCK (Forfar);" "MOSS DUCK (Renfrew, Aberdeen);" "MUIR
DUCK (Stirling) ;" and two names already mentioned, as follows :
" Gray Duck (Lancashire, Dumfries) ;" " Stock Duck (Orkney
Isles))'

No. 7.
Anas obscura.

Prevailing color blackish brown, of lighter shade below ;
head and neck also lighter and more grayish in tone. Wing-
mark, or " speculum," purplish blue changing to green, and bor-
dered with black ; lining of wings white.

Size very variable, but about that of species immediately
preceding, and of same general shape.

Bill greenish yellow, with black nail at end. Legs orange
red, the webs dark.

No. T.

Found chiefly in Eastern North America ; " West to Utah and
Texas ;" North to Labrador.

DUSKY DUCK: DUSKY MALLARD: very generally known in
New England and Middle States as BLACK DUCK (see Nos. 28,
29). As we move westward, and farther south, we hear BLACK
MALLARD; and reaching South Carolina or Georgia, BLACK
ENGLISH DUCK, latter title continuing into Florida (though the
name Black Mallard is also heard in the far South).

No. 8.
Anas americana.

Adult male. Forehead and crown white, or nearly so ; re-
mainder of head, with upper neck, pale buff, profusely speckled
with black or greenish black ; a large patch of glossy green
beginning at the eye and sweeping backward ; the speckling of
head breaking into this green, or blending with it to greater or
less extent ; the throat nearly plain buff, though dusky immedi-

ately back of bill; lower neck (all around), sides of body, and
shoulder feathers light brownish red, with more or less pinkish
cast ; this color almost uniform about front and sides of neck,
waved with dusky lines on sides of body, more grayish and
waved also with dusky lines at back of neck and on the shoul-
der feathers. Back gray, waved minutely and obscurely with

No. 8.]

BIRD NAMES.

lighter lines, this coloration turning to a more distinct pattern
of dusky and white lines over base of tail ; the tail itself chiefly
brownish gray. Fore part of wing, with broad field of white ;
back of this white, a glossy green wing-mark, or speculum, bor-
dered with black; the lower halves of inner secondaries (long
feathers starting at first joint from body) black ; remainder of
wing chiefly brownish gray, with a few feathers edged or tipped
with white. Breast and belly continuously pure white; the
feathers immediately beneath the tail black, this black continued
upward a little over root of tail, the Avhite of lower parts being
likewise continued upward at sides of rump. Bill light bluish
gray with black tip. Legs and feet bluish gray with darker webs.
We often find these drakes with green head-patch very im-
perfect, with little or no greenish gloss to speculum ; the latter
showing, instead, as a deep brown or blackish space ; top of head
considerably speckled ; white of wings pervaded to greater or
less extent by gray, and brownish red at sides of body, with very
few of the wavy markings above mentioned.

Female. Head and neck streakily speckled with dark brown
and grayish white, changing to brown and light yellowish brown
on lower neck, fore-breast, and sides of body ; the darker brown
markings becoming less positive and almost disappearing along

20 BIRD NAMES.

the sides. Upper parts chiefly grayish brown ; the feathers of
back and shoulder region edged with light brownish buff ; wing-
mark, or speculum, blackish, with slight greenish gloss, and bor-
dered in front with white. Under surface of body nearly white,
the feathers immediately beneath the tail deep brown. Bill and
legs much as in the male.

Young male (before beginning to assume dress of old drake),
very similar to female just described.

Length eighteen to twenty -one inches; extent thirty to
thirty -four and a half inches ; bill (measured along the side) one
and five eighths to one and three quarter inches.

Found throughout the whole country during migrations.

WIDGEON (see Nos. 9, 12, 13, 17, 31) : more correctly the
AMERICAN WIDGEON (distinguishing it from Old World widg-
eon, A. pendope) : BALD-PATE (see No. 29) : GREEN-HEADED
WIDGEON.

I find the name " Widgeon " in common use at North
Scituate, Mass. ;* on Long Island at Moriches, Bellport, and
Seaford (Hempstead) ; throughout New Jersey; at Norfolk, Ya. ;
in the neighborhood of Chicago, and at Hennepin on the Illinois
Kiver.

We also hear " Bald-pate " at Chicago, and at Havre de Grace,
Md. ; and BALD-HEAD at Hennepin, and at Savannah. Ga.

In Massachusetts (when encountered) it is known at Province-
town as SOUTHERN WIDGEON; at North Plymouth as CALI-
FORNIA WIDGEON ; and in the vicinity of Edgertown as WHITE-
BELLY. This latter name is a familiar one also to the older
gunners of Milford, Conn.

To some of the gunners of Detroit it is the POACHER, being
so called from its well-known habit of foraging upon the food
for which other ducks have dived.

At Washington, D. C., Alexandria, Ya., and Morehead, N. C.,
BALD-FACE (not recognized in latter locality by any other name).

* It is not a common duck in New England, and I do not remember hear-
ing it referred to by any local name in Maine or New Hampshire.

No. 8.] BIRD NAMES. 21

Lawson, in his ISTew Voyage to Carolina, 1709, says : " The
bald, or white faces are a good fowl ; they cannot dive, and are
easily shotten."

At Oisfield, Md. (east shore of Chesapeake), and "Wilming-
ton, K C., BALD-CEOWN : at St. Augustine, Fla., BALD-FACED
WIDGEON.

Dr. David Crary, of Hartford, Conn., tells me that while
shooting in Benton Co., Oregon, in 1885, he found this species
in enormous flocks on the wheat-fields, and that it was there
called the WHEAT-DUCK.

Kobert Kennicott (cited by Baird, Brewer, and Kidgway)
speaks of its being known to voyageurs throughout the Fur
Countries as SMOKING-DUCK,* and Pennant, in his Arctic Zo-
ology, 1T85, tells of its being " sent from New York, under the
name of the Pheasant Duck ;" but the latter name (as others
have suggested) was probably applied by mistake.

* Probably because its note was thought to resemble the puffing sound
made while smoking.

No. 9.

Anas strepera.

Adult male. Head and neck pale buff gray, freckled with
grayish brown ; crown and hind neck darker ; lower neck and
breast dark slaty -brown, with scale pattern of nearly white

lines. Union between lighter neck and darker plumage beneath
commonly more or less abrupt, and sometimes at this juncture
there is a well-defined black ring ; this ring, though seldom per-
fect, is found in various stages of imperfection.* Belly white,

* I have found this ring nicely developed upon three or four different

No. 9.]

BIRD NAMES.

23

with faint touches of gray ; feathers immediately beneath tail
black. Fore part of back and sides of body slaty-brown, pen-
cilled with wavy lines of dull white ; lower part of back darker,
and becoming black on rump and above tail. Certain of the
long feathers sweeping back from shoulder region tinged with
pale yellowish brown ; tail feathers and much of Aving brownish
gray. Speculum (i. e., outer end of feathers growing from second
bone of wing) white, an edging beneath and broad patch in
front of speculum black ; in front of this black a patch of ma-
roon, or dull mahogany color.

Bill blackish, about one and seven eighth inches long. Legs
dull orange yellow.

No. 9. Female.

Female. Head and neck much like male, though a little
more distinctly spotted ; the finer markings of neck mingling
with those of breast without abruptness. Speculum and black

drakes, two of which I sent to the United States National Museum for Mr.
Ridgway's inspection. He kindly writes me (Dec. 5, 1885): "It is proba-
ble that they represent an 'individual' variation of plumage, probably a very
high state of plumage. I find indications of the black collar in specimens be-
longing to our collection, but in none is it so strongly marked as in your speci-
mens." I have found no reference whatsoever to this marking in ornithologi-
cal works.

24

BIRD NAMES.

next it also similar to drake ; but the black more limited, and
the maroon tint but slightly indicated or absent. Under surface
of body white, spotted more or less completely with brown.
Breast and all remaining parts of plumage (excepting certain
plain brown wing feathers) mottled with dusky grayish brown
and light yellowish brown. Legs pale yellow. Bill dusky
brown above, with edges and under part yellow.

Length about twenty -two inches ; extent thirty-four to thirty-
five inches.

"Nearly cosmopolitan. In North America breeds chiefly
within the United States" (A. O. U. Check List).

GADWALL (spelled also " Gad well," " Gad wale," etc.) : GRAY
DUCK (see Nos. 6, 13). These two are its book names. The first
mentioned,which is pre-eminently "booky," I find used at Chicago
even by marketmen and gunners ; and the latter name at Chi-
cago, on the Illinois River, and by some at Savannah, Ga.

Though rather a rare visitant on Long Island, it is known
(when it does apgear) at Moriches as SPECKLE-BELLY, and at Sea-
ford (Hempstead) as CREEK DUCK; the latter being a common
name also at Morehead, N. C., and in the vicinity of Savannah.

On the coast of New Jersey, at Barnegat, Tuckerton, and
Atlantic City, it has long been known as the BLATEN DUCK
(blatant, or bleating, like " gtrepera? from its obstreperousness) ;
and Giraud (1844) speaks of its being called "WELSH DRAKE or
GERMAN DUCK" at Egg Harbor. I have made numerous in-
quiries for these last two names among the Jersey coast duckers,
but have found no one who remembered having heard either of
them.

At Wilmington, N. C., and at Savannah, WIDGEON (see our
widgeon of the books, No. 8 ; also Nos. 12, 13, IT, 31). Called
also at Savannah GRAY WIDGEON (see No. 13); four aliases
being used, therefore, in this locality : Gray Duck, Creek Duck,
Widgeon, and Gray Widgeon.

I am told by S. E. Topping, of Moriches, that this duck is
known in Mobile as the " Chickcock ;" and Captain Robert L.
Petty, of Bellport, tells of hearing it called " Chickacock " at

BIRD NAMES. 25

New Orleans ; two forms of one and the same name, doubtless.
These two Long Island bay men are not only thoroughly reliable,
but they are peculiarly well acquainted with our water-fowl ; and
my only reason for not using more emphatic type is my igno-
rance concerning the orthography.

Though occasionally met with in New England, I have heard
no local name applied, and indeed have nowhere found the Gad-
wall common on the Eastern coast.

Though abundant in certain interior localities, this is not
(taking the country through) a numerous species, as compared
with other varieties.

Since writing the above, Rev. Charles Swainson's Provincial
Names of British Birds has appeared, and in it we find "SAND
WIDGEON (Essex)," and the name RODGE with no locality

No. 10.

Anas carolinensis.

Adult male. Above principally grayish ; most of head and
upper neck rich reddish brown, or " chestnut bay ;" a green
patch, blackened at lower border, surrounding eye, and sweep-
ing backward and downward to black tufty feathering of nape ;
at lower edge of patch, and beneath the eye, an indistinct brown-

No. 10. Adult Male.

ish white line ; bill black, or nearly so. Xeck, beneath its red-
dish brown portion, with much of upper plumage and sides of
body, delicately waved with lines of white and black. Iri-
descent wing-mark, or " beauty spot," green, framed with black,
buff, and white ; and above this a few feathers (starting at inner
frame-work of wing) marked lengthwise with black and line of

No. 10.]

BIRD NAMES.

white. Breast light buff, with blackish spots ; at either side of
breast a white bar ; belly white, though often with buff tinge ;
feathers beneath tail black, with light buff patch at each side.
Legs bluish gray, tinged with flesh color.

Female. Principally dark brown and light yellowish brown
or buff ; the lighter color noticeable upon edges of the feathers,
but more closely mixed in a streakily speckled manner about
neck and head ; crown of head and streak running back through
eye, dark; throat pale buff; on lower fore neck, breast, and

No. 10. Female.

along upper sides of body the buff tint predominating, and of a
rather deeper shade, and the dark markings more spotty. Tinder
surface of body white, with dusky markings back of legs. Wings
nearly as in male.

Length about fourteen inches ; extent twenty-two to twenty-
four inches. Bill narrow, and nearly same width throughout.

Eange, North America at large.

GREEN -WINGED TEAL, or GREEN -WING, simply, so called
very generally : AMERICAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL, distinguish-
ing it particularly from European Green-wing, Anas crecca,
which strays to us occasionally ; and termed likewise by certain

28 BIRD NAMES. [No. 10.

early writers, the AMERICAN TEAL* and LEAST GREEN-WINGED
TEAL.f

At Bath, Me. (to the older gunners at least), MUD TEAL; at
Moriches, Long Island, WINTER TEAL (see No. 31) ; at More-
head, N. C., RED-HEADED TEAL. No other name for the species
is recognized in latter locality, so far as I can discover (1884),
and this is certainly a more distinctive appellation than that of
" Green-wing." Audubon says : "Its general name, however, is
the ' Green- wing ;' and a poor name in my opinion it is, for the
bird has not more green on its wings than several other species
have." And he adds : " Very many birds are strangely named,
not less in pure Latin, than in English, French, and Dutch."

* Latham. f Bartram.

No. 11.
Anas discors.

Adult male. Crown of head and chin black ; a white black-
edged crescent between bill and eye ; remainder of head, with a
little of the neck adjoining, bluish lead color, with lavender
tinge ; bill black. Upper plumage principally dark brown with
black, and spots, bars, and streaks of buff; front of wing sky

( *"*. ''y\ I--
••••:tfK^.&*3

"XfV;;v ' '::J-.'.- ' -> -!\\ -.-&.^

No. 11. Adult male.

blue ; blue also on some of the longer shoulder-feathers ; wing-
mark, or speculum, green, with white band between it and above-
mentioned blue, and a narrow line of white on opposite border
of speculum.

Lower plumage light brown or reddish buff, thickly speckled
with black; this marking changed to waved bars upon the

30 BIRD NAMES. [No. 11.

flanks ; at either side of tail (upon the rump) a patch of white ;
feathers immediately beneath tail black. Legs dull yellow.

Female. Quite differently dressed from drake, excepting
wing, which is similar. Most of upper parts dark brown, with
narrow pale buff edgings to the feathers ; crown of head and
streak running back of eye dark brown ; sides of head and upper

No. 11. Female.

neck finely and streakily speckled with dusky brown upon a white
ground ; throat white. Lower neck and breast, with sides of body,
pale buff, mottled with brown ; the buff tint fading to dingy
white on belly, where the markings are smaller and less distinct.

Length, fifteen to sixteen inches ; extent, twenty-six to thirty
inches.

Eange, Korth America at large, principally east of Rocky
Mountains.

BLUE -WINGED TEAL, or BLUE -WING simply; so termed
generally : also known as SUMMER TEAL. This latter name is
common at Moriches, Long Island, and I am inclined to believe
that I have heard it among the gunners of other localities, but
this is the only note I have.

Called by early writers WHITE-PACED TEAL, and WHITE-

No. 11.] BIRD NAMES. 31

FACED DUCK; and Dr. "Woodhouse, in Sitgreaves' Expedition —
Zuni and Colorado Kivers, 1853, calls it COMMON BLUE-WINGED
TEAL; thus distinguishing it from "Western blue-winged teal,"
Anas cyanoptera ; the latter, however, being better known as
" Cinnamon Teal."

No. 12.

Aix sponsa.

Adult male. Head and plume principally dark green and
purple, the green predominating above, the throat white ; a line
of white running back from bill over eye, another behind the
eye ; both these white streaks continued along the crest ; white

No. 12. Adult Male.

of throat branching upward as shown in picture. Lower neck
and the breast purplish chestnut, or maroon, with triangular
white spots. Belly white. Sides delicately waved with fine
lines of straw color and black, and separated from maroon of

No. 12.] BIRD NAMES. 33

breast by conspicuous white and black bar ; the feathers cover-
ing flanks barred at their ends with white and black, and a patch
of purplish chestnut at either side of rump. Upper parts gener-
ally dark, of brownish and brownish gray tone, varied with vel-
vet black, brightened with greenish bronze ; the wings broadly
glossed here and there with purplish blue and other iridescence,
and narrowly edged behind (on ends of the broad blunt feath-
ers) with white ; hairy filaments, varying in tint, at either side
of tail. Bill, with ridge, tip, and under part, black ; its sides
red near head, and whitish farther forward. Eyes red. Legs
yellow.

Female. A rather quietly attired, principally grayish and

No. 12. Female.

slaty -brown duck, though with considerable iridescence. Bill
dusky ; a narrow edging of white next it. Crest slight and
scarcely noticeable. Throat, patch around eye, and the belly,
white. Breast tan brown, streakily marked with pale buff;
sides also brown, with spots of dull white. Legs yellowish
brown.

Length eighteen to nineteen inches ; extent twenty-eight to
twenty-nine inches.

" Temperate North America, breeding throughout its range "
(A. O. U. Check List).
3

34 BIRD NAMES. [No. 12.

WOOD DUCK (see No. 22): SUMMER DUCK: widely known
by one or both of these titles, and commonly conceded to be the
most beautiful of our water-fowl. It may be added that as a
table bird it stands also very high.

At East Haddam, Conn., it is the WIDGEON.* "A good
many here call it Wood Duck," said a local gunner, " because it
builds its nest in trees, but most of us know that its real name
is Widgeon." Farther down the Connecticut River, we hear
WOOD WIDGEON: "Always called it so," said an Essex ducker,
"until Clark told us its right name." Mr. John N. Clark, of
Saybrook, near by, being the authority referred to.

At Pocomoke City (Worcester Co.), Maryland, and in the
vicinity of Charleston, S. C., ACORN DUCK. Mentioned in Bel-
knap's History of New Hampshire, 1784, as CRESTED WOOD
DUCK: and Latham writes, Synopsis, 1785 : " By some called TREE
DUCK (see No. 22). Our " Tree-ducks " proper, met with along
southwestern border of the United States and southward, be-
long to the genus Dendrocygna.

* See our Widgeon of the books, No. 8 ; also Nos. 9, 13, 17, 31.

No. 13.
Dafila acnta.

Adult male. Head and upper neck rich brown with copper-
red reflections ; portions of hind neck black ; lower hind neck,
front of back, and sides of body evenly waved with dusky gray
and white ; much of wing plain gray and grayish brown ; wing-

No 13. Adult Male.

mark, or speculum, green, changing to copper -red, and edged
with white, cinnamon, and black ; the tapering feathers starting
at inner framework of wing, and sweeping along the lower back,
are black centrally, with broad gray, white, or brownish margins.

BIRD NAMES.

[No. 13.

Tail gray, with black about its roots, its elongated central feath-
ers black, or nearly so. Front of neck, and under parts gener-
ally, white, tinged more or less with yellowish or rusty stain ; the
white of neck branching into the dark color above, as shown in
picture. BiD black, turning to bluish gray along its sides. Legs
and feet bluish gray.

Measurements about as follows : length twenty-nine inches
(but governed, of course, greatly by variable development of
central tail-feathers); extent thirty -six inches; bill, measured
along top (from feathering at base) two to two and three-
sixteenth inches, and narrow, with sides nearly parallel.

Female.

Adult female. Plumage very different from full -dressed
drake : a quietly clothed " gray duck." Central feathers of tail
projecting but slightly beyond those next them. Upper plu-
mage principally dark grayish brown, variegated with cream
color, the latter tint deepening here and there into tan, or paling
into white ; variegations closer about lower neck ; throat pale
buff ; remainder of neck (all around) and most of head marked
with dusky streaks and dots upon a buff or pale-brown ground ;
top of head darker; iridescence of speculum very imperfect,

No. 13.] BIRD NAMES. 37

often scarcely discernible. Under parts of plumage pale buff, or
dull white, with obscure spots or freckles. Bill uniformly dusky.
Legs and feet bluish gray.

Length twenty-two and a half to twenty-three inches : ex-
tent nearly that of drake.

Young (both sexes). Closely resembling adult female.

" Northern Hemisphere. In North America breeds from the
northern parts of the United States northward, and migrates
south to Cuba and Panama" (A. O. U. Check List).

I have heard no local name applied from Calais, Me., to Bath,
though between these points I have interviewed many duckers.
The bird is certainly not common enough here to require often
a name of any kind, and it may be added that nowhere upon
our coast is the species so numerous as in the interior. From
Bath to the State of Connecticut the name GRAY DUCK (see
Nos. 6, 9) is usually given it (I find that I have thus lumped the
matter in notes relating to this portion of the coast), but no
other name has troubled me so much as this one. It can be ap-
propriately applied to many species, and is too comprehensive,
too adaptable a title to remain as unwaveringly attached to a
single species as do duck-names usually. It is very liable to be
brought into play when a grayish duck of any kind is shot that
the gunners are unfamiliar with. Though I have met the name
in a large majority of the places visited, I have only been able
to record its exact local use in a comparatively few instances.
Referring to its general application in New England to the
present species, Mr. Brewster writes (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, July,
1883) : " Much confusion has been caused by the assumption
that the Gray Duck (i. «?., Gadwall) of the books is the same with
the ' Gray Duck ' of New England gunners and sportsmen." I
have heard this name popularly applied to the species now in
hand, on the Niagara (see No. 6) ; in Connecticut, at Essex, Mil-
ford, and Stratford ; at Bellport, Long Island ; Washington, D. C. ;
and Alexandria, Ya. ; and very commonly in these localities, as
elsewhere, to designate only the females, and the males in gray
attire. Giraud savs, in his Birds of Long Island, 1844, referring
3*

38 BIRD NAMES. [No. 13.

to this fowl : " The young and females are mistaken by many
persons for a distinct species, which they call Gray Duck."

Some of the duckers of Seaford (Hempstead), Long Island,
include full-plumaged drake under above title, Avhile others dis-
tinguish the latter as PIED GRAY DUCK (see note to No. 23,
concerning use of " pied " on Long Island).

In Philadelphia, Baltimore, and St. Augustine, these young
birds and females are also called Gray Duck, and in the latter
locality GRAY WIDGEON (see No. 9) ; latter name likewise used
more or less at Essex, Conn., where the species goes by the
name of SEA WIDGEON as well.

Also known (including or not the gray birds) on the Ni-
agara ; about Lake St. Clair ; in Massachusetts at Salem, North
Scituate, North Plymouth, and West Barnstable, as PIN-TAIL
(see No. 31), and at Salem and West Barnstable as SPLIT-
TAIL. At Buzzard's Bay, Mass.; in Connecticut, at Essex and
Stratford ; in New Jersey, at Barnegat, Tuckerton, Pleasant-
ville (Atlantic Co.), and Atlantic City; at Baltimore, Wash-
ington, Alexandria, Norfolk, and at Morehead, N. C., SPRIG -
TAIL; this being sometimes shortened to SPRIG. At Chicago,
SPIKE -TAIL, and less commonly PIKE -TAIL; at Milford, Conn.,
PICKET -TAIL; this being probably the original form of a Long-
Island name, which I find spelled " Picketail " in my note book,
and which Giraud gives as " Picitail " in the index to his Birds
of Long Island. Several old duckers conversed with at Shinne-
cock Bay, Moriches, Bellport, etc., consider this a corruption of
peaked-tail, but I imagine they are a little off the track.

To the older gunners about Milford, this is the PHEASANT
DUCK or PHEASANT; and similar names by which the species
has been known are SEA PHEASANT and WATER PHEASANT.
For other water-fowl to which the name "pheasant" is applied,
see Nos. 20, 21, 22.

In New Jersey, at Manasquan (Monmouth Co.), SMEE; at
Tuckerton, SMEES; while others at Tuckerton refer to it as
SMETHE. Though these are doubtless forms of one and the
same name, I have thought best to make no choice between
them, but to give the three equal prominence. The species has

No. 13.] BIRD NAMES. 39

been so termed, it appears, for a very long time. " Most of us,"
said a venerable hunter, " call it Sprig-tail, but I suppose its real
name is Smees." Josselyn, in his Voyages to New England,
published 1674, mentions " Smethes " among other of our birds,
but to what species he referred we can only guess. It is inter-
esting also to recall the fact that the Smew or "White Nun,
Mergus albellus (no longer included in our fauna), has been called
both " Smee" and "Smeath."

At Pleasantville and Atlantic City we hear LONG -NECK,
and at Charleston and Savannah SPRIG - TAILED WIDGEON;
while in Charleston markets and to some of the local gunners it
is the WIDGEON simply. (See our Widgeon of the books, No. 8 ;
also Nos. 9, 12, 17, 31.) At St. Augustine the full - feathered
drake is the KITE -TAILED WIDGEON.

Other aliases gathered from various sources, but that I do
not remember having heard in common use, are WINTER DUCK
(Nuttall— -See No. 25); CRACKER (Fleming's British Animals);
SPREET-TAIL, PILE -START (both in Giraud's Birds of Long
Island); PIGEON -TAIL (Herbert's Field Sports); SHARP-TAIL
(Hallock's Gazetteer, and Long's American Wild Fowl Shoot-
ing); SPINDLE -TAIL (Water Birds of North America). And
Eev. Chas. Swainson, in Provincial Names of British Birds,
1885, gives "LADY BIRD (Dublin Bay)," and "HARLAN (Wex-
ford)," recording also a name previously mentioned, as follows :
" Sea Pheasant (Hants ; Dorset)."

No. 14.

Spatula clypeata.

Adult male. Head and upper neck of a very dark greenish
tone, with purple reflections ; lower neck and breast white ; belly
and flanks rich chestnut brown ; front part of wings conspicu-
ously blue, of light shade, but vivid ; back of this blue, a green
wing-mark, or speculum, bordered with white and black; feath-

No. 14. Adnlt male

ers striped with white, sweeping backward from inner region of
wings; back dusky brown; .rump, and above and below tail,
black with greenish gloss ; at either side of tail a white patch.

Audubon wrote : " We have no duck in the United States
whose plumage is more changeable than that of the male of this
beautiful species." The species can nevertheless be quickly

No. 14.]

BIRD NAMES.

41

recognized in any plumage by its broad, soft, and yielding bill,
twice as wide at its rounded end as at its base, with fringe of fine
tooth-like processes exposing themselves on either side.

I have never had the good-fortune to kill a drake in above
splendid attire, and have taken my description mainly from three
stuffed specimens shot near Savannah, Ga. The bills of these are
black, but the colors of bills and legs before death I can only
determine through the testimony of others. According to sev-
eral ornithological works, the bills (accompanying this or similar
plumage) are black, or nearly so; the legs reddish orange, or
vermilion.

No. 14. Female.

I have shot many of this species in the late fall and early
winter in Southern and Western States, but they were either
drakes in imperfect plumage, or birds in female apparel. This
latter dress is a simple mixture of warm brown and light buff,
line and streaky on head and upper neck ; the throat plain buff.
Lower neck (all around) and general upper plumage brown, the
feathers edged with light buff which pales to white on broader
feathers growing from shoulder regions, or inner region of
wings; the feathers covering sides of body marked in nearly
like manner. Forward portion of wings brownish, with light

42 BIRD NAMES. [No. 14.

markings near front edge (no blue) ; speculum greenish, bor-
dered before and very narrowly behind with white, and often
very dull, with little or no lustre. Lower surface of body vary-
ing from buff to nearly pure white, mottled about vent and be-
neath tail with warm brown.

Length about twenty inches ; extent thirty inches or more.

Bill, as I have commonly observed it on freshly killed birds,
but as I have never seen it described : upper division (or upper
mandible) olive brown, with bright orange edge, the surface
dotted with black as though fly-specked; lower division bright
orange ;* these colors changing rapidly after death.

Many imperfectly plumaged drakes that I have seen have
dark head and neck, finely speckled with white; snowy white
and dark markings about breast and back ; front of wing blue
to greater or less degree, and dull brownish leather color on
belly.

I have always found this duck fine eating. Audubon says :
" The sportsman who is a judge will never pass a Shoveller to
shoot a Canvas-back."

Kange, "Northern Hemisphere. In North America breed-
ing from Alaska to Texas " (A. O. U. Check List).

SHOVELLER: BLUE-WING SHOVELLER (Catesby's Nat. Hist,
of Carolina, etc.) : RED-BREASTED SHOVELLER (Pennant's Brit-
ish Zoology).

Along the coast from New Brunswick to Connecticut this
species is too rare to bear a well-established name among gun-
ners. It is known at Lake St. Clair ; the Detroit Kiver ; Chi-
cago; Long Island; in New Jersey at Ked Bank (Monmouth
Co.), Barnegat, Atlantic City, and Sommers Point; in Mary-
land at Havre de Grace and Baltimore ; in Virginia at Alex-

* Catesby, 1731, describes bill as "reddish brown, spotted with black"
(his specimen being in brown plumage, with front of wing blue); and in
Water Birds of North America (Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway), bill colors of
adult female are thus described: "bill brown, mandible orange;" but no
mention is made of the black dots.

No. 14.] BIRD NAMES. 43

andria and Norfolk ; at Morehead, N. C., and Savannah, Ga., as
SPOON-BILL * (see No. 31).

At Tuckerton, N. J., and Crisfield, Md., it is the SHOVEL-
BILL, and in Putnam County, Illinois, the BROADY.

The name BROAD-BILL, given in YarrelPs British Birds,
Coues's Key, etc., though eminently appropriate, seems to have
been very thoroughly taken up in our country by other species.

Another name at Norfolk, and one which has rapidly grown
into favor, is BUTLER DUCK, the bird being so called because of
its spoon-like bill, and with reference to a well-known general in
the civil war. J. W. Long also records this name in his descrip-
tions of wildfowl shooting in the West.

Another odd title, of much less recent origin, encountered at
Morehead, N. C., is COW-FROG. Though no one attempts to give
a reason for the term, the oldest inhabitants tell of hearing it in
use from early childhood.

Though known at Savannah, as previously stated, as the
Spoon-bill, I have heard it oftener referred to there, and at St.
Augustine, as SPOON-BILLED WIDGEON; and it is commonly
called in the markets, and by the market-gunners of Savannah,
the SPOON-BILLED TEAL. This termination " teal," though a
peculiarly marketable one, is not applied in this case from mer-
cenary motives alone, as many of the resident sportsmen as well
as market gunners believe in two varieties of Spoon-bill; the
Spoon -billed Widgeon being the larger, and having "darker
bill and legs."

The only time I remember to have heard the name Shoveller
in actual use among gunners (and this, according to scholarly
usage, is its correct name) was at Baltimore. The bird is known
however as the MUD-SHOVELLER at Sanford, Fla.

In Lawson's New Yoyage to Carolina, 1709, we read about
the SWADDLE-BILL as follows : " A sort of an ash-colored duck,
which have an extraordinary broad bill, and are good meat;

* Our Roseate Spoonbill, allied to the herons, and known to ornithologists
by the weird and double-barrelled title Ajoja ajaja, will not, it is hoped, get
mixed in the mind of any one with the duck kind.

44 BIRD NAMES. [No. 14.

they are not common as the others are." As Pennant remarks
in his Arctic Zoology, 1785, referring to the above (but without
naming Lawson) : " We must therefore join it, for the present,
to this species."

In Swainson's Provincial Names of British Birds, 1885, we
find SHOVELARD (Norfolk); MAIDEN DUCK (Wexford); SHEL-
DRAKE and WHINYARD (Waterford); "whinyard" being "the
name for a knife like the Shoveller's bill in shape." Mr. Swain-
son also states that the name Whinyard is given in Wexford to
the European Pochard Fuligula ferina.

No. 15.

Aythya vallisneria.

Adult Male. Head and greater part of neck brownish red
or mahogany color ; top of head and about bill of deeper tint, or
blackish ; reddish tone extending farther down neck than in
species No. 16 (sometimes confounded with No. 15), and ap-
proaching less nearly a true red ; remainder of neck, fore part

No. 15. Adult Male.

of body, and rump blackish brown ; wings principally gray.
Back, shoulder-feathers, sides, and about vent white, delicately
dotted and lined in wavy pattern with dusky gray (u wrapt in
pencilled snow ") ; front of wings with wavy markings in similar
fashion. Under parts of body, not previously described, pure

46 BIRD NAMES. [No. 15.

white. Bill high at base, greenish black throughout ; its length
from corner of mouth two and a half to two and three-quarter
inches, and greatest width about thirteen sixteenths of an inch.
Legs bluish gray.

Female. Head, neck, and fore part of body dull brownish
buff or brownish tan ; wings nearly plain grayish brown ; upper
parts of body, with sides, and rump all around grayish brown
minutely sprinkled with wavy dull white. Belly white, tinged
here and there with yellowish and grayish tints. Bill and legs
as in male.

o. 15. Female.

Length twenty-one to twenty-two and three-quarter inches :
extent thirty-three and a half to thirty-six inches or a little more.

Another way of distinguishing it from No. 16 is by the
rather flat manner in which the forehead continues the upper
line of the bill ; the forehead of No. 16 being more arched and
intellectual-looking.

In many waters of the "West, this bird, whose range is sup-
posed to include the greater part of the country,* is found in

* "Breeds from the northern tier of states northward, in the Rocky Moun-

No. 15.] BIRD NAMES, 47

goodly numbers, but it is not a common species anywhere near
our Eastern coast north of Delaware ; and in New England it is
rare.

A friend who has spent much time at Norfolk, Ya., informs
me that a majority of the Norfolk epicures consider this bird
better eating when it first arrives from the North than it is at
any other time. This is antagonistic with the popular belief
that the " wild celery " of the Chesapeake region does so much
to improve the bird's flavor.

Wilson, who first described this species (scientifically), tells
us (1814) of its being called CANVAS-BACK on the Susquehanna,
WHITE-BACK on the Potomac, and SHELDRAKE (see Nos. 20,
21, 22) on the James. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia (ed.
1788), mentions " Sheldrach, or Canvas-back;" and the name
" White-back " is still a familiar one to duckers on the Potomac,
at least to those about Washington and Alexandria.

Wilson tells us also of a wheat-laden vessel wrecked near
Great Egg Harbor, N. J., and how the floating grain attracted
vast numbers of these birds, which, being unknown to the local
gunners, were denominated " sea-duck " simply ; and Ord adds,
in his reprint of Wilson, that in the neighborhood of Phila-
delphia hunters were in the habit of supplying the market with
this duck, under the name of " Ked-head," or " Ked-neck " (see
No. 16), and that " their ignorance of its being the true Canvas-
back was cunningly fostered by our neighbors of the Chesa-
peake, who boldly asserted that only their waters were favored
with this species." Audubon speaks of Southern epicures send-
ing to Baltimore for Canvas-back, not knowing that they could
be obtained near home. " I well remember," he writes, " that on
my pointing out to a friend, now alas, dead, several dozens of
these birds in the market of Savannah, he would scarcely believe
that I was not mistaken, and assured me that they were looked
upon as poor, dry and fishy." But now, this " over-rated and

tains further south, and in upper California ; winters in the United States, and
southward to Guatemala." — Cones.

48 BIRD NAMES. [No. 15.

generally under-done bird," as Dr. Coues nicely puts it, is recog-
nized as the "Canvas-back" almost everywhere. It may be
added that in ducking parlance the abbreviation CAN is some-
times used ; I should not emphasize this fact had not the abbre-
viation crept into print occasionally as a distinct name, without
apology or explanation.

Known to many gunners about Morehead, N" C., and on New
River, Onslow Co., same state, as BULL-NECK (see No. 31), and
in last-named locality, as BED-HEADED BULL-NECK.

No. 16.

Aythya americana.

Adult male. Head and upper neck mahogany colored ; head
large with full puffy feathering ; remainder of neck, fore breast,
and around on extreme forward part of back continuously black
or blackish. Plumage of back and sides finely zigzagged with
dull white and slaty black; the lower back and tail grayish

r~

No. 16. Adult male

brown; and immediately about tail blackish. Wings princi-
pally two shades of bluish gray, their under surfaces grayish
and white. Under surface of body white, shading darker with
brownish gray towards tail. Bill pale blue (in life) with black
end ; length of bill, measured along edge from corner of mouth,

50 BIRD NAMES. [No. 16.

two to two and a quarter inches; its greatest width thirteen
sixteenths to fourteen sixteenths of an inch. Legs bluish gray.
Female. Bill similar to drake's, but darker in color; head
and upper neck drab or grayish brown ; immediately about bill
and throat lighter grayish buff. Lower regions of neck, upper
parts of body, and the sides brown and slaty brown ; edges of
the feathers paler, the pale edging more noticeable about lower
neck region and sides. No zigzag markings anywhere (or with
barest suggestion of them). Wing much as in male. Under

No. 16. Female.

parts white, shading darker and brownish gray behind. Legs as
in male.

Length twenty to twenty-one inches: extent about thirty-
three inches.

Eange, North America in general, breeding from Maine and
California northward.

RED-HEAD, or RED-HEADED DUCK: very generally known as
such in the books, and by gunners. It has been also called
the POCHARD from its resemblance to European Pochard (with
which it was at one time considered identical), and more cor-
rectly the AMERICAN POCHARD.

No. 16.] BIRD NAMES. 51

At Seaford (Hempstead), L. I., it is the RED-HEADED BROAD-
BILL. Upon the coast north of Long Island this species, though
occasionally killed, is certainly far from a familiar sight to
gunners.

From Pamlico Sound to South Carolina commonly known
as the RED-HEADED RAFT-DUCK.

In King's Sportsman and Naturalist in Canada, 1866, called
GRAY-BACK (see No. 17) ; and in Schoolcraft, 1820, and Tan-
ner's Narrative, 1830, FALL DUCK.

Another name, too interesting to be omitted, is found in
Avifauna Columbiana (Coues and Prentiss, 1883), *'. <?., WASH-
INGTON CANVAS-BACK, accompanied by the following remarks :
" One of the commonest market ducks, passing about half the
time for Canvas-back, and equally available for promoting Con-
gressional legislation."

No. 17.

Aythya marila nearctica.

Adult male. Head, neck, fore part of breast, and front of
back black ; the gloss about head chiefly greenish. Lower part
of back, the long wing-feathers, and tail mostly brownish black.
Wing-mark, or speculum, white. Middle of back, sides of body,
and flanks beautifully pencilled with black and white zigzag

No IT. Adult Male.

lines, the same extending on to wings, but less conspicuously.
Under surface of body principally white, though pencilled like
flanks on lower belly, and blackish beneath tail. Bill broad, and
of light bluish lead color with black nail at end. Legs and feet
gray, with blackish webs. Eyes yellow.

[No. 17.

BIRD NAMES.

53

Female. Dark brown in those parts which are black in male,
though with front of head immediately around base of bill
white. The zigzag markings much less distinct. Bill less blue,
more dusky, and often with dull olive tinge. In other respects
resembling drake.

.•-•...-. "'-••";..• -' " '

No. IT. Female.

" Total length about eighteen to twenty inches ; extent
twenty-nine and a half to thirty-five inches." *

Eange, North America in general; "breeding far north"
(A. O. U. Check List).

Concerning the edibleness of this and following species, No.
18, doctors disagree, as in many similar cases ; quality of flesh
depending so much upon feeding-ground. My own experience
has led me to agree with Wilson, that " their flesh is not of the
most delicate kind."

AMERICAN SCAUP DUCK: GREATER SCAUP DUCK. « Scaup,"

* Having omitted to take measurements myself, I quote Water Birds of
North America (Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway).

54 BIRD NAMES. No. 17.]

according to Willoughby, is a term applied to broken shell-fish ;
and Yarrell, treating of British Birds, says : " Beds of oysters
and mussels are in the north called ' oyster-scaup ' and ' mussel-
scaup,' and from feeding on these shell-covered banks the bird
has obtained the name."

It is impossible to separate clearly the names of this
from those of the following species, No. 18, the two being
enough alike to travel very commonly under one and the same
name.

Along the coast from New Brunswick, until approaching
Long Island Sound, duckers do not usually remark a difference
between them ; and I had better state here, once for all, that the
following names, which are not specially remarked upon as ap-
plied to this, the greater scaup, alone, may be regarded as belong-
ing to both species.

Known in Maine at Jonesport, Frenchman's Bay, Ash Point
(near Rockland), Portland, and Pine Point, and in Massachusetts
at Salem, Barnstable, Fairhaven, and Falmouth, as BLUE BILL.*
This is the popular appellation in the West also. I have met it
in common use on the Niagara and Illinois Rivers, at Chicago,
and about Lake St. Glair ; and Mr. J. P. Leach, of Rushville, 111.,
writes me concerning this and No. 18 in his part of the country,
that they are " almost invariably known as ' blue-bills ;' the terms
1 broad-bill,' l scaup,' ' black-head,' etc., rarely being used except
by men from the East."

We hear " blue-bill" also (among other names) in New Jersey
at Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.) and Cape May City ; and infre-
quently used at Jacksonville, Fla.

This, the larger scaup, is distinguished in the vicinity of
Detroit and Lake St. Clair, as LAKE BLUE-BILL, and this name
is recorded as " local " in the Revised List of Birds of Central
New York, 1879 (Rathbun, Fowler, and others).

Again at Falmouth, Mass., and to native duckers at New-
port, R. I., WIDGEON (see our Widgeon of ornithologists, No. 8,
also Nos. 9, 12, 13, 31) : in Boston markets BLUE-BILLED WIDG-

* Given at Machias Port, Me., to Ruddy Duck, No. 81.

[No. IT. BIRD NAMES. 55

EON: at North Plymouth, same state, AMERICAN WIDGEON*
(to some at least) ; and Mr. F. C. Browne gives TROOP-FOWL in
his list of "gunners' names" at Plymouth Bay (Forest and
Stream, Nov. 9, 1876).

Another title at Chicago is GRAY-BACK (see No. 16), and
certain gunners about Detroit prefer BLACK-NECK to the more
common Western term " blue-bill."

In Connecticut at Stonington, mouth of Connecticut Eiver,
Stony Creek, and Stratford, BROAD-BILL (this being monopolized
at Bath, Me., and Newport, E. I., by Buddy Duck, No. 31 ; see
also No. 14). I find latter name in like use in New Jersey at
Barnegat, Tuckerton, Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), and Cape May
City, and in Virginia at Richmond.

The greater scaup is distinguished on Long Island at Shin-
necock Bay and Moriches as BAY BROAD-BILL, and again at
Shinnecock Bay as DEEP-WATER BROAD-BILL; at Bellport as
WINTER BROAD-BILL; and at Manasquan, N. J., as SALT-WATER
BROAD-BILL. Another name once common about Shinnecock
Bay, but now seldom heard, is MUSSEL-DUCK.

Again at Pleasantville, N. J., and at Crisfield, Md., FLOCK-
DUCK; Crisfield duckers frequently, however, distinguish the
greater scaup as GREEN-HEAD (see No. 6, to which this name
is usually applied).

At the mouth of the Susquehanna, very commonly on the
Chesapeake, by some at Cape May C. H., at Eastville and
Cobb's Island, Va., and at Charleston, S. C., BLACK-HEAD; the
greater being particularized on the Chesapeake as BAY BLACK-
HEAD. I have heard the term "black-head" as far south as
St. Augustine, though SEA-DUCK and RAFT-DUCK are names
better understood by St. Augustine natives; the latter name
being equally popular at Savannah and Jacksonville.

At Washington, D. C., and Alexandria, Va., BAY-SHUFFLER.

At Morehead, N. C., and Wilmington, same state, BLACK-

* The American Widgeon of the books, No. 8, being locally known as
" California Widgeon." Scaups are not common enough in the neighbor-
hood of Plymouth to require often a name of any kind, and No. 8 is rare.

56 SIRD NAMES. No. 17.]

HEADED RAPT-DUCK; this being applied only to greater scaup
in first-named locality. By others at Wilmington, BULL-NECK
(see Nos. 15, 31).

It may be added that the words " big " and " large " as pre-
fixes to " blue-bill," " broad-bill," etc., frequently distinguish this
from the following scaup.

No. 18.

Aythya affinis.

In appearance, excepting size, like No. 17 ; gloss about head,
however (when discernible), having more of a purplish than
greenish cast.

" Length fifteen and a half to seventeen inches ; extent under
thirty inches." *

Eange, " North America in general ; breeding chiefly north
of the United States" (A. O. TJ. Check List).

See No. 17 for names shared in common with this species,
but not repeated here.

This, the LESSER SCAUP DUCK, though often found in com-
pany with preceding species, is certainly more partial to inland
water, or rivers, creeks, and ponds. I find it locally designated
as follows :

In the vicinity of Lake St. Clair, EIVER BLUE-BILL; at
Chicago, LITTLE BLUE-BILL (adjectives "little" and "small"
being naturally more or less used in many localities by those
who recognize Nos. 17 and 18 as distinct) ; in Revised List of
Birds of Central New York, 1879, MARSH BLUE-BILL (given as
"local"); at Pleasantville, Atlantic Co., New Jersey, MUD BLUE-
BILL,

At Stratford, Connecticut, and Seaford (Hempstead), L. I.,
RIVER BROAD -BILL; at Shinnecock Bay, L. I., and Tucker-

* Having quoted measurements of greater scaup, No. 17, 1 prefer to quote
these also, this time from Dr. Coues's Key, 1884. By comparing quotations,
and taking into account that the plumages are practically alike, it will be seen
that under certain conditions the two ducks are not easily separated.

58 BIRD NAMES.

ton, K J., GREEK BROAD-BILL; and Giraud in his Birds of
Long Island, 1844, mentions this name as " well-known to the
bay gunners."

Again, at Bellport, L. I., MUD BROAD-BILL; and in New
Jersey, at Barnegat, FRESH -WATER BROAD -BILL; at Cape
May "C. EL, GOSHEN BROAD-BILL (the cove at Goshen, same
county, being a favorite resort of this smaller species) ; in Ab-
bott's catalogue of New Jersey Birds, 1868, POND BROAD-BILL.

Many duckers of the Chesapeake know it as CREEK BLACK-
HEAD; and in Virginia at Eastville and Cobb's Island it is the
FLOCK DUCK; and Audubon speaks of its being known in Ken-
tucky as FLOCKING-FOWL.

At Washington, D. C., and Alexandria, Va., RIVER SHUF-
FLER; and in Newberne and Morehead, K. C., SHUFFLER,
simply; the latter name being never intentionally applied in
the vicinity of Morehead, at least, to greater scaup.

No. 19.
Aythya collaris.

Adult male. Bill dark slate color with blackish tip and
bands of pale blue, a narrow band at base, and broader one near
end. A brownish red or mahogany colored ring around neck.-
Head and neck above ring black, with slight iridescence, and
white chin-mark. Neck below ring, fore-breast, and plumage of
upper parts blackish. Wings slaty brown ; the wing-mark, or

speculum, bluish gray. Sides of body finely waved with white
and blackish lines. Under parts white, with dusky markings
towards rear, and black, or nearly black, beneath tail. Legs
gray.

Female. No ring around neck, and no wavy lines any-
where. Bill much less plainly marked. Dark parts of plumage

60 BIRD NAMES. [No. 19.

brownish ; the front of head about base of bill whitish, this face-
marking purer white on chin, and mixed more or less with
brown on forehead. Wings marked with bluish gray as in

No. 19. Female.

male. Lower surface of body grayish white, freckled with
brown or grayish brown, and becoming more uniformly brown
behind.

Length sixteen to eighteen inches ; extent, say from twenty-
five to twenty-seven inches. A much less numerous species than
either No. 17 or 18.

Eange, North America in general; breeding north of the
United States. Though found along the coast, oftener met with
in the interior.

RING-NECKED DUCK: RING-NECKED SCAUP: RING-NECKED
BLACK-HEAD: TUFTED-DUCK of Wilson.

In the vicinity of Lake St. Clair MARSH BLUE-BILL (see
No. 18), a name given also by Mr. Seton in his Birds of Western
Manitoba (Auk, April, 1886).

At Chicago RING-BILL; and Audubon speaks of hearing
the latter name in Kentucky.

No. 19.] BIRD NAMES. 61

In Putnam Co., 111., BLACK-JACK; this being heard also at
Chicago, though less commonly ; and Mr. J. P. Leach, of Rush-
ville, 111., writes that this- name is " generally applied along the
Illinois River."

In Porter's Spirit of the Times, Oct. 25th, 1856, it is reported
as travelling in the vicinity of Cincinnati, under " the euphonious
but unmeaning " title of BUNTY ; and Mr. Long, in his American
Wild Fowl Shooting, 1874, gives GOLDEN-EYES as a " very com-
mon " name in the West (see No. 23, to which " Golden-eye "
is usually applied).

Giraud writes (referring to this duck) in his Birds of Long
Island, 1844 : " By our gunners generally it is considered a
hybrid, and familiar to them by the name of BASTARD BROAD-
BILL."

At the mouth of the Susquehanna commonly known as
RING-BILLED BLACK-HEAD, though many of the local gunners
regard the female as a distinct species, and term it CREEK RED-
HEAD, because of its resemblance to female No. 16.

At Newberne, N". C., and Wilmington, same state, RING-
BILLED SHUFFLER; and I am told by two well-informed gun-
ners, viz., Alonzo Nye, of Chatham, Mass., and William Flint,
of Lyme, Conn., of its being known to certain South Carolina
duckers as the MOON-BILL.

No. 2O.

Merganser americanus.

Bill rather cylindrical in shape, hooked at point, and fur-
nished with very positive teeth, entirely unlike what is under-
stood as a duck bill ; see outline drawings under Ko. 21.

Adult Male. Head and upper neck dark green, or blackish
with green gloss ; a slight, scarcely noticeable crest. Eyes and
bill red ; the latter, however, having its ridge, and " nail " at

end black. Lower neck all around, and under parts of body
white, more or less deeply tinged (in life) with buff. Sides of
rump faintly waved with gray. Tail, and lower part of back,
gray; remainder of back black. Wings white and black, as
indicated in picture. Legs red.

Female. Head and upper neck, including crest, reddish

No. 20.]

BIRD NAMES.

brown ; the crest more fully developed than in male. Throat,
lower neck, and marking on wing (as shown in picture), white.
Upper parts, generally, and sides slaty gray. Under surface of
body cream colored (in life). Legs, bill, and eyes much as in
male, but less bright.

No. 20. Female.

Measurements about as follows: Male: length twenty-six;
to twenty -seven inches; extent thirty-six inches. Female:
length twenty-four inches ; extent thirty-five inches.

Though this bird is found in both salt and fresh water, it
belongs much more to the inland than following merganser ISTo.
21. It is a thoroughly cold- weather creature, remaining on
lakes, ponds, etc., as long as a single " breathing-hole " is left in
the ice, and, having been forced to depart, it returns at the very
first show of open water, ascertaining the -fact immediately in
an altogether marvellous manner.

Eange, North America in general ; breeding from northern
border of United States, northward.

GOOSANDER (a name commonly regarded as from goose and

64: BIRI> NAMES. [No. 20.

gander; "a goosey -goosey -gander" sort of name): MERGAN-
SER (diver-goose, Latin mergus and anser) : AMERICAN MER-
GANSER (distinguishing it from European species, Merganser
merganser): DUN-DIVER of Pennant (relating to dun color of
female plumage; see No. 31): SPARLING FOWL of Latham
(a good name for this fish -eating fowl, "sparling" being an
old English name for the smelt): BUFF -BREASTED SHEL-
DRAKE:* BUFF -BREASTED MERGANSER: AMERICAN SHEL-
DRAKE.

In Maine at Eastport and Milbridge, and in Massachusetts
at Pigeon Cove and Salem, SHELDRAKE, f indiscriminately
with No. 21 ; the present species monopolizing said title at
Eowley, Mass., on the Niagara Kiver, in the neighborhood of
Chicago, at Hennepin and Snachwine, 111., and Morehead, N. C.

At Ellsworth, Me., and in Massachusetts at North Plymouth,
Buzzard's Bay, and "West Barnstable, POND SHELDRAKE (see
No. 22).

At Bath and Kennebunk, Me., and Portsmouth, N. EL,
WINTER SHELDRAKE; at Pine Point, Me., GREAT LAKE SHEL-
DRAKE; and at West Barnstable, Mass., SWAMP SHELDRAKE
(as well as Pond Sheldrake. See No. 22 for name Swamp Shel-
drake as used on Long Island).

At Falmouth, Mass., and in New Jersey at Barnegat and
Tuckerton, FRESH-WATER SHELDRAKE; and in latter state, at
Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), Atlantic City, and Somers Point,
RIVER SHELDRAKE; and at Pleasantville again, NORTH CARO-
LINA SHELDRAKE. It may add interest to note in this con-
nection, as well as farther on, that the term " Carolina " is also

* The name Sheldrake is probably from provincial English sheld, meaning
variegated or pied, and drake.

Yarrell says of the Old World Sheldrake : " I have found the stomach of
this species filled with very minute bivalve and univalve mollusca only, as
though they had sought no other food ; a predilection which may have given
rise to the name of Shell-drake; or it may be so called because it is parti-
colored ; and the term Shield-drake may have had its origin in the frequent
use made of this bird in Heraldry."

t See odd use of this name under No. 15.

No. 20.] BIRD NAMES. 65

employed at Pleasantville for the Hudsonian Godwit, No. 61 ;
the latter bird being locally known as the Carolina Willet.

On Buzzard's Bay, from New Bedford to Barney's Joy Point,
BREAKHORN; at Stonington, Conn., BRACKET SHELDRAKE, or
BRACKET simply. The meaning of these two names, Breakhorn
and Bracket, I cannot give, and I think that the latter has been
introduced in Stonington since I learned to shoot there thirty-
five years ago.

On Long Island at Moriches, WEASER SHELDRAKE; at Bell-
port and Seaford (Hempstead), WEASER. The term "shel-
drake," that is to say, being more commonly omitted in latter
localities. I have given the spelling of Giraud, who refers to
this name in his Birds of Long Island, 1844. Another form of
it, or I should say a name that immediately suggests the other,
is heard at Shinnecock Bay (designating same species), viz. :
TWEEZER. I can hardly believe that this last is the original
form, though the bird's beak is easily likened to a pair of
tweezers. My idea is that early settlers on the Island associated
our " fresh- water sheldrake " with the German river, and got to
calling it in consequence the Weser sheldrake.

Though, as previously mentioned, the name " sheldrake " at
Milbridge, Me., commonly includes next species, No. 21, some of
the older gunners there distinguish No. 20 as the PHEASANT; the
latter distinction being general at Machias Port and Jonesport,
same state ; and we read in Wilson, Yol. VIII., 1814, of this
species (No. 20) being " called by some the WATER-PHEASANT."
(For other water-fowl to which the name " pheasant " is attached
see Nos. 13, 21, 22.)

At Milford and Stratford, Conn., VELVET-BREAST; and to
some Atlantic City gunners, MOROCCO-HEAD.

Other names by which our three mergansers (Nos. 20, 21, 22)
have been more or less loosely known, are FISH-DUCK, FISHING-
DUCK, FISHERMAN, and SAW-BILL. The names Fisherman and
Fishing-duck are, however, monopolized in the neighborhood of
Morehead, N. C., by No. 21.
5

No. 21.

Merganser serrator.

Adult male. Head, long hairy crest, and a little of neck
black, with greenish gloss ; the neck beneath this, white ; lower
neck and fore-breast a rather light chestnut brown, speckled
streakily with black. Front of back and the wings black and

No. 21. Adult Male.

white, as in picture ; this black connected with that of head by
black line on back of neck; remainder of back and sides of
body a wavy pattern of narrow white and black lines. Under
parts white. Bill and legs red, the former dusky on top.

Female. Head and upper part of neck principally reddish

No. 21.] BIRD NAMES. 67

No. 21. Female.

brown (of duller tint, commonly, than in female No. 20), the
upper part of head darker, of grayish tone ; a streak of this gray
running back along by eye from bill, the throat paling to white ,
remainder of neck, back, sides, and tail brownish gray, with pale
edgings to the feathers ; wing chiefly dark brown, marked with
white as in picture. Under parts white. Bill and legs of duller
tint than in adult male.

Length twenty-two to twenty-four inches ; extent thirty -two
to thirty-four inches.

A very common water-fowl. Eange, as given in A. O. U.
Check List : " Northern portions of northern hemisphere ; south,
in winter, throughout the United States."

The female of this species is easily confused with that of No.
20. Note difference in line of feathering at base of bill, and
position of nostrils, on following page.

Our mergansers, all three of them, are much better eating
than commonly supposed ; though, as is the case with numerous
species, they are less desirable in some localities than in others.
Once, while at Lane's, on Shinnecock Bay, L. I., I had the fun
of watching a gentleman, who regarded fowl of this sort with
holy horror, ravenously devour a bird of the present species.

BIRD NAMES.

[No. 21.

He was charmingly ignorant, of course, of what he ate, but
when informed a short time after, he not only succeeded in re-
taining his food, but confessed like a man that Shinnecock shel-
drakes, at least, were a success.

Bill of No. 21.

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. RED-BREASTED GOOSANDER
of Edwards's Natural History of Birds, Vol. II., 1747.

Yery generally known as SHELDRAKE from Eastport, Me.,
to — I can only say, lower waters of Chesapeake, as I have
no note of hearing it used for the species farther south than
Eastville, Northampton Co., Va. (See No. 20, a bird sometimes
confounded with this ; and also odd use of " Sheldrake " under
No. 15.) Certain names more especially distinguishing this from
" Sheldrakes " Nos. 20 and 22, and other exceptions to above-
mentioned general use of the name, are noted as follows :

At Bath, Me., SPRING-SHELDRAKE; at Rowley, Mass., SEA-
ROBIN, or ROBIN simply; at Stonington, Conn., though the
name Sheldrake is more or less used for both sexes, many gun-
ners distinguish the female as SHELDUCK, and this latter form
is common for both sexes in New Jersey at Pleasant ville (At-
lantic Co.), Cape May C. H., and Cape May City.

At Essex, Conn., LONG ISLAND SHELDRAKE; at Barnegat

No. 21.] BIRD NAMES. 69

and Tuckerton, N. J., SALT-WATER SHELDRAKE; and Giraud
writes, Birds of Long Island, 1844, "called by our gunners
PIED SHELDRAKE" (see No. 23 for use of "pied" on Long
Island).

At Crisfield, Md., PHEASANT. (For other water-fowl to
which the word "pheasant" is attached, see Nos. 13, 20, 22.)

At Morehead, N. C., FISHERMAN and FISHING-DUCK. These
last two names, though used at Morehead for this bird only, are
sometimes loosely applied to the three mergansers (Nos. 20, 21,
22). We also hear FISH-DUCK and SAW-BILL thus indiscrimi-
nately applied ; and William F. Davis, of the Thimble Islands,
Conn., tells of hearing the name GAR-BILL used for mergansers
in general, " by visiting sportsmen " from parts unknown.

Captain Bob Petty, of Bellport, L. L, informs' me that this,
the Ked-breasted Merganser, is known " to all the gunners about
Mobile" (Ala.) as the SEA BEC-SCIE (this being an English-
French combination, meaning sea " saw-bill ").

In a Notice of the Ducks and Shooting of the Chesapeake,
by Dr. J. T. Sharpless, Cabinet of Nat. Hist., Yol. III., 1833, the
present species is referred to as HAIRY-CROWN, a name remind-
ing us of that similar one, Hairy-head, belonging to Hooded Mer-
ganser, No. 22.

De Kay, in New York Zoology, 1844, mentions "Whistler"
among other names, as given to this species in New York State.
He elsewhere records the title as applied in same state to the
Hooded Merganser. I do not feel like giving special emphasis
to these applications of a term so commonly used, then as now,
for the Golden-eye, No. 23.

We find the following in Eev. Charles Swainson's Provincial
Names of British Birds, 1885 : SAWNEB (Aberdeen) : SAWBILL
WIDGEON (Galway) : HERALD (Shetland Isles) : HERALD DUCK
(Forfar and Shetland Isles) : HARLE or HARLE DUCK (Orkney
Isles): EARL DUCK (East Lothian): LAND HARLAN (Wexford):
BARDRAKE (Down), "from the brown and ash colored streak
on the rump;" this name being mentioned elsewhere by the
author as applied in Ireland to Tadorna cornuta, the common
Sheldrake of the Old Country: SCALE DUCK (Strangford

70 BIRD NAMES. [No. 21.

Lough): GRAY DIVER (Islay) "applied to the female:" POP-
PING WIDGEON (Drogheda Bay); and Mr. Swainson tells of
this latter name being used in same locality (" Drogheda Bay ")
for the European Golden-eye, " as it pops down and up so
suddenly."

No. 22.
Lophodytes cncullatus.

Adult male. Bill nearly black, shorter than in preceding
mergansers, and differing slightly in other respects, yet, never-
theless, a " saw-bill." Crest black in front, and white behind
with black bordering. Head, neck, and much of upper plumage

black, with some brown, and occasional greenish reflections;
loose black feathers striped with white, growing from elbow
region, and seeming (while wings are closed) to belong rather to
the plumage of the lower back ; wing-mark, or speculum, white,

72 BIRD NAMES. [Xo. 22.

with black bars. Sides of body cinnamon brown, finely waved
with dark lines; breast and belly white, the white of breast
and black of upper parts sweeping into each other, and forming
crescent-like bars in front of wings. Legs yellow brown. Eyes
yellow.

Female. A little smaller than male. Upper parts brownish,
with no pure black; crest rusty brown, with no white, and

smaller than drake's ; front of breast grayish, and without the
crescent bars ; throat and under parts white or nearly so. Bill
blackish above and orange below (similar in shape to that of
male).

Young. Practically like adult female.

Length seventeen to eighteen inches ; extent about twenty-
five inches.

These birds are very partial to fresh water, and when near
the sea are met with usually in small rivers, creeks, and ponds.
They are peculiarly sportive and agile, and easily decoyed by
anything resembling a duck. The beautiful fan-like crest is
lifted or lowered at will.

Eange, North America in general ; breeding here and there
throughout the United States and north ward.

No. 22.] BIRD NAMES. f3

HOODED MERGANSER: HOODED SHELDRAKE: ROUND-CREST-
ED DUCK (Catesby's Nat. Hist. Carolina, Fla., etc., 1731) : FAN-
CRESTED DUCK (Barton's Fragments Nat. Hist., Penn., 1799).

At Bath, Me., PICKAXE SHELDRAKE (the bill being the pointed
end of the pickaxe, I suppose; the crest, its wide transverse edge) :
known also at Bath, to some of the gunners, and at Essex, Conn,
as POND SHELDRAKE (see No. 20) : and Mr. Everett Smith states
in his Birds of Maine,* that it is " locally known as the LITTLE
SHELDRAKE."

At Stonington, Conn., WOOD SHELDRAKE; at Essex, same
state, SUMMER SHELDRAKE. Neither this name Summer Shel-
drake, nor that of Pond Sheldrake is often required here, as the
bird is but infrequently found, and it may be added that this is
not a common species along our coast north of New Jersey,
though met with sometimes in fair numbers.

On Long Island at Shinnecock Bay, Moriches, and Bellport,
SWAMP SHELDRAKE (see No. 20).

On the Niagara Eiver, Lake St. Clair, and about Chicago,
LITTLE SAW-BILL and FISH-DUCK; the latter name being com-
mon also in Putnam Co., 111. (See No. 21 for this last name, and
Fisherman, Fishing- duck, Saw -bill, and Gar-bill, as sometimes
indiscriminately applied to mergansers in general ; a loose style
of expression, however, that belongs more to " sportsmen " and
the like than to " gunners.")

It is worthy of note that in the neighborhood of Niagara
Falls the book-name, Hooded Merganser, is met with in common
use. Just think of it ! a live gunner with that name on his
lips.

In Connecticut at Milford and Stratford, SAW-BILL DIVER.
I am here reminded of how easily names get twisted. I have
seen this one conspicuously printed " Swan-bill Diver," and an
old gunner at Stratford always refers to the bird as " Saw-mill
Diver ;" the last being not so bad, as the bird is so frequently
encountered in and about mill-ponds.

On Long Island at Seaford (Hempstead), SAW-BILL simply ;

* Forest and Stream, 1882-83.

74 BIRD NAMES. [No. 22.

a name distinguishing it here from other mergansers, but, as
elsewhere stated, sometimes loosely employed to designate the
three (Nos. 20, 21, 22) collectively.

In Abbott's catalogue of New Jersey birds, 1868, we read of
the present species being " generally known inland " as POND
SAW-BILL.

At Detroit, SPIKE-BILL. Nowhere in western localities men-
tioned have I heard the name " sheldrake " applied to it.

At Newport, R. I., SMEW. The Hooded Merganser is about
the size of the true Smew, Mergus albellus, and the drake of the
latter species, when his crest is erected, looks considerably like
our bird ; very much as our bird might look in a state of partial
albinism. The Smew proper is no longer included in our fauna,
and it is doubtful if it ever should have been. Though "Wilson
tells us that it was " frequently observed " in his time " in the
ponds of New England," etc.

At Manasquan, N. J., WATER-PHEASANT; at Morehead,
N. C., PHEASANT DUCK, and more commonly PHEASANT*
simply. Lawson writes, in his New Yoyage to Carolina, 1709 :
" The water-pheasant (very improperly called so) are a water-
fowl of the duck kind, having a topping of pretty feathers which
sets them out." (For other water-fowl to which " pheasant " is
attached, see Nos. 13, 20, 21.)

In New Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton, Pleasantville (At-
lantic Co.), Atlantic City, and Somers Point, COCK-ROBIN, and
less commonly COCK-ROBIN DUCK; at Somers Point, Cape May
C. H., and Cape May City, and at Eastville, Va., Wilmington,
N. C., and St. Augustine, Fla., HAIRY-HEAD.

At Crisfield, Md. (east shore of Chesapeake), SNOWL ; a name
as weird as some of those in Alice's Wonderland, and the only
one by which the bird is known, so far, at least, as I could dis-
cover in 1885.

To the darkies of Charleston, S. C., and its vicinity, MOSS-

* The Ruffed Grouse, No. 41, generally known by this name in the South,
is not met with in this section, and when referred to is termed "Mountain
Pheasant."

No. 22.] BIRD NAMES. 75

HEAD. The colored women often use a large bunch of " Florida
Moss," Tillandsia usneoides, as a cushion for the heavy loads
they carry upon their heads, and I am inclined to believe that
" Moss-head " was suggested by this practice, rather than by any
direct resemblance to moss in the bird's crest.

I find also in my memorandum- book the name TOW-HEAD
for this species, but, unfortunately, with no note of locality ac-
companying it. I remember distinctly, however, that the name
Avas heard in one of our Southern States.

Another name (than that of " Hairy-head") commonly heard
among the "crackers" of St. Augustine is TADPOLE; the bird
having been thought particularly fond of polliwogs, I suppose.

While examining specimens in the Smithsonian (Washington,
D. C.), I was surprised to find the name WOOD-DUCK (see No.
12) printed on this bird's label. But Mr. Kidgway told me that
he had heard " Wood-duck," and also TREE-DUCK (again see No.
12) commonly applied to this species, in lower or more southern
portions of the Wabash valley, 111. and Ind. The application
of " Wood-duck " to a " Saw-bill," though a little shocking at
first, is natural enough, of course, as the Merganser breeds in
woods, nesting in the hollow of a tree like the " Wood-duck " of
people generally ; and Mr. George A. Boardman, of Calais, Me.,
once witnessed a lively and long-continued fight between a bird
of the latter species and a Hooded Merganser for the possession
of a hole in a tree to which both laid claim.

I have previously quoted Captain Petty, for the Red-breasted
Merganser. The captain adds that the present species is known
to all about. Mobile, as BEC-SCIE ; this (the French for " Saw-
bill ") distinguishing it from the Sea Bec-scie, No. 21.

No. 93.

G-laucionetta clangula americana.

Adult male. Head and upper neck black (or of very deep
tone); richly glossed with green ; a roundish spot of white be-
tween bill and eye. Eemainder of neck, with lower parts of
body, pure white excepting a few brownish gray mottlings
about vent and sides of belly. Back, wings, and tail practi-

No. 23. Adult Male.

cally black (here and there blackish-brown), with white mark-
ings as shown or sufficiently indicated in picture. Bill black or
nearly so ; eyes bright yellow ; legs and toes yellow or orange,
with dusky webs.

Female. Considerably smaller than male ; head plain brown ;
neck in front and at sides white faintly touched with gray ; be-

No. 23.] BIRD NAMES. 77

hind brownish gray. Lower part of neck, with fore-breast, and
upper parts generally, gray, the feathers pale at edges ; wings
darker, with white markings as indicated in picture. Under
parts white, the color of upper plumage continued down about

No. 23. Female.

the legs and behind them. Eyes as in male. Bill dull yellow-
ish, or yellowish olive, shaded unevenly with blackish brown.
Legs and toes dull yellow with dusky shading, the webs chiefly
black.

Length seventeen to twenty inches ; extent twenty-seven to
thirty-one inches.

A duck more or less common in winter throughout the
country, making its appearance, as Giraud says, " about the
same time that a majority of its tribe are compelled to quit
the 'great nursery' at the North for our more temperate
climate."

AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE: COMMON GOLDEN-EYE. As the
first name marks this bird as different from European variety,

78 BIRD NAMES.

so the second distinguishes it from Barrow's Golden-eye,* a
species of our own which is not " common," to Eastern gunners
at least.

MOERILLON (Arctic Zoology, 1785) : GARROT, another Old
World title early applied to our bird: CONJURING -DUCK:
SPIRIT-DUCK. Eichardson, 1831, speaks of these last two names
as given in the fur countries to both this species and No. 24, be-
cause of their instantaneous disappearance "at the flash of a
gun or the twang of a bow."

" Sometimes called by our gunners the BRASS-EYED WHIST-
LER" (Nuttall's Water Birds, Boston, 1834). BRASS-EYE, men-
tioned by DeKay, Zoology of New York, 1844.

From Eastport, Me., to Falmouth, Mass., on the Niagara
Eiver, at Chicago, along the Connecticut coast, and at Shinne-
cock Bay, L. I., WHISTLER.

At Milford, Conn., and Shinnecock, the adult drake, though
recognized by all as of the same species with the rest, is com-
monly referred to as the " pied Whistler."f

At Niagara Falls, Chicago, Newport, R. I., and Alexandria,
Ya., WHISTLE-WING; at Cape May C. H., N. J., WHISTLE DUCK;
and we find this latter form in Beesley's Birds of Cape May,
1857.

Another and very pretty name, heard at Lyme, Conn., but
almost exclusively among the old people, is MERRY- WING. A
disagreement, however, exists concerning its use, whether it right-
fully belongs to this fowl or the following, No. 24. Having ob-
tained equally reliable testimony on both sides I record the name
in both lists.

* The Barrow's Golden-eye, or Rocky Mountain Gai-rot, is very similar in
general appearance to the present species, but the adult drake has the white
patch between the bill and eye crescent-shaped, and the species are in other
ways distinguishable.

t The word "pied" is peculiarly popular on Long Island, where the gun-
ners prefix it to local names to designate the "full dressed" male of any
species whose plumage is pied or showily variegated, and when I asked an
old ducker if he did not think the present species particularly handsome, he
said, "Yes, the pied oues are very handsome."

No. 23.] BIRD NAMES. 79

At Plymouth, Mass., though " Whistler " is the more com-
mon appellation, we occasionally hear that of GOLDEN-EYE, *
and this latter name is the common one at Detroit, and we meet
with it (among other names) at Chicago.

At Seaford (Hempstead), L. L, GREAT-HEAD ;f in New
Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton, Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.),
Atlantic City, and Somers Point, CUB-HEAD ; at Cape May C. H.,
COB-HEAD, the last name being monopolized, however, by the
young birds, which are regarded as a species distinct from the
"Whistle-ducks." At Havre de Grace, Md., BULL-HEAD; at
Morehead, K C., IRON-HEAD. The name Cob - head is again
heard at Cape May City, where the species is also very generally
known as CUR ; a name that may have come from likening the
bird's note to that of a dog.J But whatever the origin, this rather
contemptuous title certainly has the charm of brevity, and is,
in this respect at least, preferable to " Glaucionetta clangula
americana?"*

At Pleasantville (before mentioned), JINGLER ; at Baltimore
and on the Patapsco River, WHIFFLER; at Crisfield (Somerset
Co.), Md., KING DIVER.

* See No. 19 for " Golden-eyes."

t Giraud writes, Birds of Long Island, 1844, "by some it is called Great
Head."

| Since writing the above, I have found that in portions of Great Britain
the name "Curre" is given to the Golden-eye C. clangula ; and Swainson says,
in his Provincial Names of British Birds, that this is " from the bird's croak-
ing cry."

No. 24.

Charitonetta albeola.

Adult male. Head very dark or blackish, richly glossed
with purple and green, a field of white from the eye backward.
Back black, fading to pale gray near tail ; Avings and shoulder
feathers principally white and black, as in picture; the long
wing-feathers and the tail gray. Keck, continuously with under

No. 24. Adult Male.

parts of plumage, white, the latter shaded a little about legs and
tail with pale brown. Bill leaden blue, the nail and about base
dusky. Legs and feet very light flesh color with lavender tinge.
Female. Considerably smaller than male, and without the
full fluffy feathering of head. Plumage of upper parts brown,

No. 24.] BIRD NAMES. 81

shading on fore-breast and sides to gray or grayish brown ; spot
on side of head and wing-mark white. Lower parts white,
though with some dusky shading about the legs and back of

No. 24. Female.

them. Bill more dusky than in male. Legs bluish gray with
lavender tinge, the webs dusky.

Length twelve and three quarters to fifteen inches ; extent
twenty-two to twenty -five inches.

This is a common species, visiting most parts of the country
during winter, and the full-dressed drake is one of our most
beautiful birds.

BUFFLE-HEAD, or BUFFEL'S HEAD DUCK as Catesby gives
it (Nat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, etc., 1731): BUFFLE DUCK:
BUFFALO -HEADED DUCK: LITTLE BROWN DUCK, the female
being described under this latter title in another part of Cates-
by's work : SPIRIT, or SPIRIT-DUCK : Edwards, in Nat. Hist. Birds,
Part II., 1747, describes the drake as LITTLE BLACK AND WHITE
DUCK, and speaks of its being known to Newfoundland fisher-
men as " Spirit :" CONJURINGr-DUCK, see Conjuring and Spirit
Duck, No. 23.

Very generally known from Eastport, Me., to Falmouth,
Mass., as DIPPER;* though at certain points along this coast it

* This and other names mentioned farther along are considerably mixed
6

82 BIRD NAMES. [Xo. 24.

is too rare to bear a name of any kind. Having been told at
Kennebunk, Me. (1885), that a very handsome but strange duck
had recently been killed, I walked a long distance out of my
way to see it, and was considerably disappointed to find the
rara avis nothing more wonderful than a male of the present
species. Again, while at Provincetown, Mass, (same year), I
was called to pronounce upon another cock Dipper, as the bird
was unknown to the local gunners (see " Dipper " of Province-
town, No. 31).

I will note here that the Water Ouzel, Cinclus mexicanus,
also bears the name of " Dipper " in books and elsewhere, but
there is little chance of confusion arising therefrom, the Water
Ouzel being about the size of a blue-bird, and belonging to the
far West.

The Buffle-head is again the "Dipper" on the Connecticut
coast, and continues to be so recognized, very generally, as far
as the southern part of North Carolina.

At Bath, Me., and North Scituate, Mass., ROBIN-DIPPER ; at
Buzzard's Bay, Mass., DAPPER (see No. 31). Mr. Browne, in his
list of gunners' names, at Plymouth Bay,* gives both "Dipper"
and DOPPER (see No. 31).

DIE-DIPPER (see foot-note to name "Dipper," page 81):
MARRIONETTE : these two names being mentioned by Audubon,
that of Marrionette belonging to the state of Louisiana.

" Devil-diver " and " Hell-diver " have also appeared in print
once or twice as aliases of this bird, but I do not feel like em-
phasizing the fact ; I have never heard either of them used by a
gunner for any bird but a grebe, and I think they have probably
been credited to the present species inadvertently.

with those of the Ruddy Duck, No. 31, and with the Grebes, particularly the
Pied-billed Grebe, PodRymlv* podiceps, that lively little nuisance, familiar to
us all, under one or more of the following titles : Hen-bill, Hen-bill Diver,
Hell-diver, Devil-diver, Water-witch, Dab-chick, Dob-chick, Dop-chick, Dip-
chick, Die-dapper, Die-dipper, Dipper. I do not mean, however, that the
same name is applied in any one locality to more than a single species.
* Forest and Stream, Nov. 9, 1876.

No. 24.] BIRD NAMES. 83

At Niagara Falls, Lake St. Clair, Chicago, Snachwine (Put-
nam Co.), 111., Washington, D. C., Charleston, S. C., and Savan-
nah, Ga., BUTTER-BALL (see No. 31) ; and in last-named city,
BUTTER-DUCK (see No. 31). The name Dipper, which is much
more commonly used for this species at Washington, is given to
the Pied-billed Grebe in the western localities mentioned.

Bartram, in Travels through North and South Carolina, etc.,
1791, speaks of the Buffle-head being " called BUTTERBACK."
Wilson writes : " Usually known by the name of the BUTTER-
BOX, or Butter-ball," and Nuttall gives "Butter-box" as used
" in Pennsylvania and New Jersey."

In New Jersey at Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), Cape May C. H.,
and Cape May City, DIVER; to some at Norfolk, Va., and Cur-
rituck region, WOOL-HEAD ; at Wilmington, N. C., SCOTCH-DUCK,
SCOTCHMAN, SCOTCH-DIPPER, and SCOTCH -TEAL; the latter
name being a favorite with hucksters, "Teal" being always in
demand.

No. 35.

ClangTila hyemalis.

Adult male in winter. Markings as in picture, and practi-
cally brownish black and white ; the patch about eye dove gray,
and the dark patch next this tint (on side of neck) blackish above
and brown below ; the blackish breast tinged more or less deeply
with chocolate ; the feathers which sweep acutely backward from
shoulders grayish white ; the long and slender pair of central

tail-feathers having an outward and slightly upward curve. Bill,
from head half-way to tip, and nail at end black, the remainder
light rose pink. Legs and toes light bluish gray, with joints
dusky and webs blackish.

Adult male in summer. In the spring, before this bird
leaves us for the North, its summer dress is more or less fully
assumed. A drake shot April 12th, at Stony Creek, Conn., whose

No. 25.] BIRD NAMES. 85

nuptial plumage was complete, or very nearly so, was dressed as
follows: Head, neck, breast, and upper parts generally, deep
chocolate brown intensified to pure black here and there: an
irregularly outlined space of light mouse gray on each side of
head, from bill backward to include the eye ; the eye itself irregu-
larly bordered with white ; a patch of bright tan-colored feath-
ers with black centres just behind neck on front of back, and
feathers similarly colored sweeping from shoulder regions along
the sides of the back. Under parts and sides, from the dark
breast backward, white, this white tinged with pearly gray upon
the sides, and meeting abruptly the deep tint of breast and upper
plumage. Bill, legs, and long tail-feathers as in winter male,
though light color of bill better described, perhaps, in this case
as salmon pink * (a delicate tint that darkened in a few hours to
reddish purple). Weight two pounds.

No. 25. Female in winter.

Adult female in winter. Head and most of neck white,

* As this light color is not given as I describe it, in any of the books acces-
sible to me at this writing, I will state that, so far as both bill and legs are
concerned, my notes were made (in this case and in that of the winter drake)
within ten minutes after the bird was shot.

86 BIRD NAMES. [y0. 25.

with top of head and patch on each cheek blackish ; also black-
ish or dusky at chin, this chin-marking continued narrowly and
imperfectly downward to lower neck ; the lower neck and ex-
treme fore part of body chiefly dusky gray or brownish gray,
this deepening in tint or blackening rather suddenly immediately
below the white of the neck, producing a collar-like marking in
some cases. Upper parts of body including wings chiefly dark
or blackish brown, variegated at neck, sides of breast, and on scap-
ulars (shoulder-feathers) with gray and reddish brown. Lower
surface and sides of body broadly white. Bill olive gray with
dusky shading (the olive tint not always noticeable). Legs and
feet as in male.

Young female. Similar to adult female just described, but
with upper parts more uniformly dark.

Young male. When this youngster first comes to us from
the North he is in general appearance much like the winter
female (tail, color of bill, and all) ; but he is a bigger bird, and
while passing from this stage to that of adult drake his varia-
tions are altogether too complicated for description.

Having omitted to note with sufficient care summer plumage

No. 25.] BIRD NAMES. 87

of female, I will quote Audubon, who was familiar with the
species in its breeding - ground : " The head is dark grayish
brown with a patch of grayish white surrounding the eye, but
not extending to the bill ; there is a larger patch of the same
color on the side of the neck, the hind part of which is similar
to the head, the fore part grayish brown, the feathers broadly
margined with whitish. All the upper parts are of a dark gray-
ish brown, the two lateral tail-feathers edged with white ; the
lower parts white, the feathers under the wings slightly tinged
with gray."

Measurements about as follows : Male : with tail fully de-
veloped, length twenty-three and a half inches; extent thirty
inches, female : length fifteen to sixteen inches ; extent twenty-
eight inches.

This bird is not popularly regarded as very desirable for table
use, though it is relished by many gunners, and I have myself
found it as good as some of the Canvas-backs which I have killed
on prairie ponds and tried to eat. Its flight is peculiarly swift,
irregular, and very swallow-like; it is a crafty and enduring
diver, a lover of cold weather, and eminently a sea-duck, though
found on certain inland waters as indicated in list of local names.

Its range is given in Ridgway's Manual, 1887, as " Northern
portions of northern hemisphere ; in America, south in winter,
to nearly across the United States."

LONG-TAILED DUCK, of early as well as late authors : LONG-
TAILED HARELD * (Selby's Illust. Brit. Orn.) : SWALLOW-TAILED
DUCK, so termed at Hudson's Bay (Fauna Boreali-Americana,
1831) : NOISY DUCK, because of its " reiterated cries " (Audubon) :
HOUND, a name applied in Newfoundland (the musical gabble
of a flock being likened to the cry of hounds).

Known all along the New England coast as OLD SQUAW, the
full-feathered drake being sometimes distinguished, as at West
Barnstable and Fairhaven, Mass., Stonington and Essex, Conn.,
as OLD INJUN.

* Hareld is the same as HaveU, an Icelandic name for the species.

88 BIRD NAMES. [No. 25.

On Long Island we find the name Old Squaw dividing
honors with that of OLD WIFE, the latter continuing in more or
less general use to the sea-coast of Maryland. South of this, to
Eastville, Ya. (I have no note of meeting Avith the species farther
south), and on Chesapeake Bay, it is the SOUTH SOUTHERLY,
frequently pronounced Sou' Southerly, and a corruption of this,
viz., SOU' SOUTHERLAND, is also common. The names Old
Squaw and Old Wife are very rarely heard on this latter piece
of coast.

At Crisfield, Md. (east shore of Chesapeake), SOUTHERLY,
and at Eastville, Ya., SOUTHERLAND.

Not one of the three old duckers conversed with at Seaford
(Hempstead), L. I. (1884), had heard any of these " southerly "
names, and at Crisfield, Md. (same year), I could find no one
who had heard " Old Squaw." I remember that while learning
to shoot, at Stonington, Conn., some thirty-five years ago, I was
more familiar with the name South Southerly and its elongated
form, SOUTH-SOUTH SOUTHERLY, than with any other.

Wilson says (Yol. VIII., 1814), " This duck is very generally
known along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay by the name of
South Southerly, from the singularity of its cry, something imi-
tative of the sound of these words, and, also, that when very
clamorous they are supposed to betoken a southerly wind ; on
the coast of New Jersey they are usually called Old Wives."

I am told that in Stonington, Conn., the words " John Con-
nolly " were popularly used, about fifty years ago, in imitation
of this bird's gabble, and they can be so repeated as to produce
a better imitation, I think, than the words now in use at Stony
Creek, same state, viz., " Uncle Huldy," and " my Aunt Huldy."

In New Jersey, at Pleasant ville (Atlantic Co.), and Somers
Point, OLD MOLLY; at Atlantic City and Somers Point, OLD
GRANNY, and GRANNY simply; at Cape May City, MOMMY; the
drake being distinguished at Pleasant ville as OLD BILLY.

On the Niagara River, and about Lake St. Clair, COWEEN;
and Mcll wraith writes, in his Birds of Ontario, 1886, "Vast num-
bers of 'cowheens' (as these birds are called here) spend the
winter in Lake Ontario." Known also to French Canadians and

No. 25.] BIRD NAMES. 89

others at Detroit and St. Clair Flats, and to the people of Ken-
nebunk, Me., as COCKAWEE ; this (differently spelled) being re-
ferred to in Fauna Boreali- Americana as follows : " The peculiar
cry of this duck is celebrated in the songs of the Canadian voy-
ageurs, by the epithet of caccdwee" and Mr. William Brewster
speaks of " cock-a-wee " as everywhere applied to the species on
the Gulf of St. Lawrence (1883).

Two other odd names met with among old New England
gunners are SCOLDENORE, at Portsmouth, N. H., and QUANDY,
at North Scituate and Plymouth, Mass. We hear at Plymouth
also, SCOLDER, a term much more easily understood.

To some at Lake St. Clair and Chicago this is the WINTER-
DUCK (see No. 13), while others at Chicago are more familiar
with the New England title Old Squaw.

The following names are found in Swainspn's Provincial
Names of British Birds, 1885 : SHARP-TAILED DUCK: SWALLOW-
TAILED SHELDRAKE : CALOO, or CALAW (Orkney, Shetland Isles) :
DARCALL: COAL AND CANDLE-LIGHT (Orkney Isles): COL-
CANDLE-WICK (Fife) : COLDIE (Forfar) : MEALY BIRD (Norfolk),
" the young are so called :" NORTHERN HARELD (Aberdeen).

No. 26.

Histrionicus hlstrionicns.

Adult male. Prevailing color bluish slate with more or less
purplish tinge, becoming brownish beneath ; the head and neck
purplish black; plumage fantastically slashed and spotted with
white, as picture shows better than any written description can ;
the white markings intensified here and there by edging of pure
black ; at either side of crown (or top of head) a stripe of ma-

So. 26. Adult Male.

hogany red, and a broad patch of the same color on either flank.
Bill yellowish olive with tip lighter. Legs and toes light bluish
gray, with blackish webs.

Female. A very different looking fowl, nearly all grayish
brown ; side of head marked with dull white, and white mixing
with the lower plumage and producing a dull freckled belly.
Bill and legs dull bluish gray.

No. 26.]

BIRD NAMES.

91

SiH?

No. 26. Female.

Young. Practically like adult female.

Length sixteen and a half to seventeen and a half inches ;
extent twenty-four and a half to twenty-seven inches : bill much
narrower towards end ; length on top one inch or a trifle more
(from feathers to tip).

The range of this species includes the northern part of North
America. It is found, in winter, as far south as Massachusetts,
and on very rare occasions a little farther south. In many places
along the Maine coast it is a common and well-known bird.

HARLEQUIN 'DUCK of authors generally: PAINTED DUCK
and MOUNTAIN DUCK of " Hudson's Bay residents," according
to Fauna Boreali- Americana, 1831 : known about Mud and Seal
Islands, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia, as ROCK DUCK, so says Rev.
J. H. Langille, in Our Birds in their Haunts, 1884.

Along the coast from New Brunswick to Salem, Mass., LORD
AND LADY; farther south than this the species is rare, and I
have no note of hearing gunners name it. Known also as
SQUEALER at Machias Port, Me., and as LORD simply, at Jones-
port, same state. Edwards, in Natural History of Birds, Part II.,
1747, speaks of this " the Dusky and Spotted Duck " being sent
from Newfoundland, where the " fishers call it the Lord."

No. 27.
Somateria dresseri.

Adult male. Chiefly black and white as shown in picture,
the black having a brownish cast here and there, and the white
tinged more or less upon the breast with buff yellow ; black of
head glossed with purplish blue and divided behind by white ;
on hinder part of head and along the lower edge of the black

No. 27. Adult Male.

marking a wash of sea green. Bill extending back peculiarly
upon the forehead, this extension (in life) of a yielding, leathery
character, divided or forked behind into two broad branches, or
lobes, with roundish ends, these lobes sweeping to right and left
upon sides of forehead ; measurements (taken from a single speci-

No. 27.] BIRD NAMES. 93

men) as follows : from tip to extreme back line of lobes, three
and one eighth inches ; from tip to point of feathering where
lobes meet, or where the leathery extension begins to divide, two
and a quarter inches ; width of each lobe five eighths of an inch.
Female. Plumage chiefly a speckled and barred mixture of
light brown or tan color, and black, the bar-like markings more
decided along the sides, and the markings of lower parts indistinct
or blurred. Bill similar in general style to that of male, but
branching more narrowly upon the forehead ; its measurements

(taken from a single specimen) as follows : from tip to extreme
back line of lobes a little less than three inches ; from tip to
central point of feathering where the lobes meet two and a
quarter inches ; width of each lobe five sixteenths of an inch.

Having failed to note colors of bills and legs in perfectly fresh
specimens, I will quote Audubon. Male : Bill pale grayish yel-
low, the unguis (nail at end) lighter, the soft tumid part pale
flesh color ; feet dingy light green, the webs dusky. Female :
Bill pale grayish green ; feet as in the male.

94 BIRD NAMES. [No. 27.

Length twenty-four to twenty-six inches ; extent thirty-nine
to forty-two inches.

AMERICAN EIDER: COMMON EIDER: very generally known
along the coast from New Brunswick to Rhode Island as SEA
DUCK, or SEA DUCK AND DRAKE; at Barnstable, Mass., SHOAL
DUCK and ISLES OF SHOALS DUCK; the latter name being like-
wise heard at New Bedford, same state, and in Connecticut at
Stonington and Stony Creek : known also at New Bedford and
Stony Creek as WAMP (this being of Indian origin, probably ;
wdmpi, white).

Eiders are Northern birds, and are seldom seen on the Con-
necticut coast, though they congregate every winter in large
flocks in Muskegat Channel, at the west end of Nantucket, and
sometimes, it is said, wander as far south as the Delaware.

Giraud, in Birds of Long Island, 1844, speaks of the species
being called SQUAM DUCK in Maine, and De Kay in Zoology of
New York, 1844, of its being known on Long Island as BLACK
AND WHITE COOT and Bid" SEA DUCK. The latter author states
also that it is called Squaw Duck on the Maine coast, but I re-
gard this as simply a misprint of name previously mentioned by
Giraud. (Though these books bear same date, Giraud's was first
published.)

The common Eider of Europe, Somateria mollissima, is known
as Dunter, Dunter Goose, Dunter Duck, and Cuthbert Duck or
Saint Cuthbert's Duck, among other names ; I add these because
until a few years ago ornithologists regarded the two birds as
one and the same. With the exception of a rather slight differ-
ence in the shape of the bill* there is little or no difference
between them, and the difference between the bills of the females
of the two species is in some cases very difficult to detect.

The superiority of the down of the eider every one is more
or less acquainted with, and the flesh is said to be very good
under certain conditions, but I have never tried it. Audu-

* In mollissima the elongated encroachments of bill upon forehead are nar-
rower, and run back straighter, and terminate more acutely.

No. 27.] BIRD NAMES. 95

bon tells of their being sold at Boston, in the winter of 1832
(when they were far more common than now), " at from fifty to
seventy-five cents the pair ;" and he adds " they are much sought
after by epicures."

Note. — The three following species, Nos. 28, 29, and 30, known as "coots"
(see Nos. 31, 32, 33, 37) or "sea coots," "scoters," etc., cannot be regarded as
general favorites for the table, and we can fully understand the reason when
we attempt the mastication of one of mature years. Latham writes concern-
ing this kind of fowl (Synopsis, 1785): "The flesh tastes fishy to an extreme,
and from this cause is allowed by the Roman Catholics to be eaten on fast days,
and in Lent; and indeed, to say the truth, must be a sufficient mortification."

I am forced to omit many local names heard for these birds, finding it
impossible to obtain a satisfactory vote among the duckers and fishermen as to
which species they belong to. The three are in many ways similar, and the fe-
males differ enough from the old cocks to be often classed as distinct varieties.

In the markets of Washington, D. C., the name "booby" (see Xo. 31) is
indiscriminately applied to fowl of this genus (not often killed, however, so
far up the river), and they are referred to collectively, and facetiously, at
Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), N. J., as "iron pots," or " old iron pots."

No. 28.
Oidemia deglandi.

Adult male. Plumage black, with conspicuous band of white
on wing, and small patch of white on side of head sweeping
backward with upward curve from lower part of eye ; eye pearl
white with small black centre or pupil, the white of the patch
below narrowly continued around edge of eye. Bill with ab-
ruptly rising knob at base ; much encroached upon by feathers ;
immediately at base black, this black spreading forward over
the knob and continued along the edge to nail at end ; sides of
bill purplish red changing to orange near base ; nail also orange,
and from nail to the black between the nostrils white, or pearl
white ; the middle of the bill, in other words from nail to knob,
being broadly white ; lower mandible (lower division of bill)
black with broad patch of orange (including nail) at end, this
patch paling to white at back edge. The legs may be briefly
described as red, with black joints and webs, but the two sides
of legs and toes differ considerably in color, the outside surfaces

No. 28.]

BIRD NAMES.

97

No. 28. Adult Male.

being dull purplish pink, the inner bright carmine red pervaded
more or less with orange.

Female. Sooty brown, lighter and more gray below, and to
some extent whitish on sides of head, this white appearing very
differently upon different specimens, often as speckles between
the eye and the bill, and as a condensed blotch behind the eye.

No. 28. Female

98 BIRD NAMES. [No. 28.

Wing marked with white as in male. Bill swollen, but without
the abrupt knob, and uniformly blackish ; the eyes also very
dark. Legs and feet dull flesh color heavily shaded with black,
and with webs black.

Young male. Resembling female, but darker or more black-
ish about head and neck ; also noticeably darker on lower surface
of body, and showing, generally before the beginning of winter,
pinkish tinge on sides of bill (where the old drake is purplish
red), and having brighter and a little more reddish legs.

In any plumage this species is instantly distinguished from
Nos. 29 and 30 by the white wing-mark alone.

Measurements (highest and lowest of eighteen freshly killed
birds) : length nineteen and five eighths to twenty -two and five
eighths inches ; extent thirty-three and seven eighths to forty
and three sixteenth inches.

Range, as given in A. O. U. Check List, 1886, "Northern
North America, breeding in Labrador and the fur countries;
south in winter to the Middle States, Southern Illinois, and
Southern California." I cannot remember killing one of these
birds on the eastern coast south of the above limit, though they
are to be found farther south, doubtless. Dr. Coues says (Key,
1884) : "North America at large," etc.

WHITE -WINGED SCOTER: WHITE -WINGED SURF DUCK:
VELVET SCOTER: VELVET DUCK.

From New Brunswick to Chesapeake region (in localities far
too numerous to mention) WHITE-WINGED COOT or WHITE-
WING.

In Massachusetts at Pigeon Cove and North Scituate, BLACK
WHITE-WING for adult drake, and GRAY WHITE-WING for fe-
male and young; some gunners believing that these two plu-
mages represent separate species.

Again in Massachusetts at New Bedford and Fairhaven, and
southward along the shore to Newport, R. I., the name MAY
WHITE-WING or GREAT MAY WHITE- WING is applied to certain
full-feathered birds, locally regarded as a distinct and larger
variety, to be met with only between the 10th and 20th of May

No. 28.] BIRD NAMES. 99

" flying west nor'west." Many duckers tell me that these larger
birds are seldom or never seen to alight, and that they almost
always appear late in the afternoon, and are to be seen passing
over in immense flocks until hidden by the night. This sup-
posed " variety " is also called, though less frequently, the EAST-
ERN WHITE-WING, on Buzzard's Bay from New Bedford to
Barney's Joy Point. As I myself have never witnessed this
May migration, the above account is all that I can give con-
cerning it.

At Portsmouth, N. H., and at Rowley and Salem, Mass.,
PIED -WINGED COOT; in Connecticut at Milford (to the older
gunners) BELL-TONGUE COOT, at Stratford UNCLE-SAM COOT;
on Long Island at Bellport BULL COOT, * at Moriches BRANT
COOT; to some at Portsmouth, N. H., SEA BRANT; in the neigh-
borhood of Niagara Falls BLACK DUCK (see Nos. 7, 29); at
Crisfield, Md., ASSEMBLYMAN (though known as White-wing
also), the species being commonly referred to, singly or col-
lectively, as "* Semblymen.

Mentioned in A Notice of the Ducks and Shooting of the
Chesapeake, by Dr. Sharpless (Cab. Nat. Hist., Vol. III., 1833),
as " Velvet, or CHANNEL DUCK."

The " Lake Huron Scoter " described and figured by Herbert
(" Frank Forester ") in appendix to Field Sports, Yol II., was of
this species, and the author's testimony concerning its flesh is
amusing, when we think how disgusted he would have been to
have known that his scoter was simply the bird previously de-
scribed in same volume as "coarse," "fishy," "tough," and
" worthless." Having gotten hold of a young bird, however, and
excited with the belief that he had added a new species to our
fauna, he gushed as follows : " Not only as fat and as juicy, but
as delicate, as tender, as lusciously melting in the mouth, as any

* Since writing the above, I have heard this name at Stony Creek, Conn.,
and it strikes me as peculiarly appropriate for these thick-necked, big-headed,
heavily built drakes. The heaviest of five males, shot December 8th, weighed
four and a half pounds; and gunners tell me that May White-wings sometimes
weigh considerably more.

100 BIRD NAMES. [No. 28.

Gunpowder River Canvas I ever had the fortune to taste." Poor
Herbert ! though you were about right in these latter remarks,
you were not the man to have written them, had you known
that you were comparing your aristocratic " Canvas " to such a
common and despised fowl as this.

No. 29.
Oidemia perspicillata.

Adult male. Plumage black ; a patch of white on forehead,
another white patch on nape, also a scarcely noticeable touch of
white immediately below the eye upon the lid. Bill lifting high
over nostrils, its upper sides bulging outward abruptly at base
and free from feather-encroachment, but the black feathering of

No. 29. Adnlt Male.

forehead continued along the top of the bill to nostrils. At its
sides this very conspicuous beak is pure white from the base half-
way to tip, with squarish patch of black (as shown in picture),
this courtplaster-like patch being separated from the feathering
on top of the bill by a line of orange, and from the black of the
plumage behind by a narrower line of carmine red' ; top or ridge
of bill (including nostrils) deep carmine red, this changing to
7*

102

BIRD NAMES.

[No. 29.

bright orange and spreading over the sides of the bill in front ;
nail at end yellow ; lower mandible, or lower division of bill,
white shaded with orange in front, the nail yellow (like its fel-
low above). Eyes white or pearl-white with black pupil (the
female having dark eyes as in the case of species last de-
scribed). Legs and feet red, with joints blackish and webs pure
black ; that is to say, they may be briefly so described, but (as in
the case of preceding species, No. 28), the two sides of legs and
toes differ considerably, the outer surfaces being carmine red,
the inner orange with more or less carmine red tinge.

No. 29. Female.

Female. Sooty brown with lower surface of body gray ; no
patch on forehead or nape, but more or less whitish on sides
of head in blotches. Bill but slightly swollen about base, not
feathered so far forward on top, and uniformly dusky, or gray
very fully shaded with black. Legs and feet dull brownish yel-
low with dusky shading, the webs black.

Young male. Much like female, but showing, often before
winter, some pinkish tinge at sides of bill in front.

Measurements (highest and lowest of five freshly killed
birds) : length seventeen and a half to nineteen and a half inches ;
extent thirty and a half to thirty-two and a half inches. Weight

No. 29.] BIRD NAMES. 103

of an adult male killed in December, two pounds and three
and a quarter ounces.

Kange : chiefly coasts of North America, but also found on
inland waters ; breeding far north, and moving south in winter
to the Carolinas, Ohio and Kansas rivers, Lower California, and
even to the Island of Jamaica.

SURF SCOTEE: SUEF DUCK: BLACK DUCK of Pennant, 1T85
(see Nos. Y, 28): in Edwards's Natural History of Birds, Part III.,
1750, it is " the great Black Duck from Hudson's Bay."

In Maine at Eastport, Millbridge, Bois Bupert Island, French-
man's Bay, and Portland, HORSE-HEAD COOT, or HORSE-HEAD;
to some at Eastport, BALD-PATE (see No. 8) ; at Machiasport
and Jonesport, SKUNK-BILL; at Portsmouth, N. H., in Massa-
chusetts at Pigeon Cove, Cohasset, North Scituate, North Plym-
outh, Barnstable, Chatham, and Falmouth, at Stony Creek,
Conn., and on Long Island at Shinnecock Bay and Moriches,
SKUNK-HEAD (the name Skunk-fo7Z being, doubtless, a perver-
sion) ; at Essex, Conn., SKUNK-TOP; and Mr. F. C. Browne gives
SURFER, in his list of "gunners' names," at Plymouth Bay,
Forest and Stream, November 9, 1876. In Maine, at Winter
Harbor, GOOGLE-NOSE, originally Goggle-nose, I presume; at
Ash Point (near Rockland), Bath, Portland, Pine Point, and Ken-
nebunk, PATCH-HEAD ; in Massachusetts at Fairhaven and New
Bedford, to many upon Martha's Yineyard, and at Stonington,
Conn., PATCH-POLLED COOT; at Bridgeport, Conn., to some of
the gunners at least, WHITE-SCOP (referring to the white of the
head, " scop" being old English for head or scalp). To some at
Kennebunk, Me., MUSCLE-BILL; in Massachusetts at Salem,
PICTURED -BILL; at Chatham, PLASTER -BILL. In Conn., at
Stony Creek and Milford, SNUFF-TAKER (the drake's variegated
beak reminding duckers of a careless snuff-taker's nose) ; at Strat-
ford, SPECKLED -BILL COOT and SPECTACLE COOT (this latter
name like Goggle-nose, the patches of black, one at either side
of the bill, being likened to colored spectacles) ; Giraud writes
(1844): "SPECTACLE DUCK, as it is by some called." At Bell-
port, L. I., MOROCCO-JAW and WHITE -HEAD. In New Jersey

104 SIRD NAMES. [No. 29.

at Tuckerton, BAY- COOT; at Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), BLOS-
SOM-BILL and BLOSSOM-HEAD.

Audubon speaks of its being known to " the gunners of Long
Island and New Jersey " as the BLACK SEA-DUCK, stating also
that in Maine and Massachusetts it is " best known by the name
of BUTTER-BOAT-BILLED COOT." A shorter form of this latter
title, viz., BUTTERBOAT-BILL, is given by De Kay (Zoology of New
York, 1844), but I have never heard of these forms in actual use.
De Kay also credits the species with BOX COOT; and we read in
Water Birds of North America, of its being known " to some "
in New England as HOLLOW-BILLED COOT (see No. 30).

The females and young males are, by many, regarded as a
species distinct from the adult drakes ; the two former being
known on Buzzard's Bay, from New Bedford to Westport, by
the name PISHAUG, and very generally along our coast as GRAY
COOT, and less frequently BROWN COOT. (Species No. 30 is also
popularly divided in like manner, while the females and young
of No. 28 are, as a rule, correctly placed ; the white wing-mark
revealing the relationship.) This mistake is one very easily
made, so different in appearance from the old cocks are these
gray-brown birds ; a majority also of those that come to us in
the fall are young, therefore tamer, inclined to frequent the in-
lets, mouths of rivers, ponds, etc., and when shot are so much
easier to pick, and on the table so much more tender and
palatable.

See note preceding No. 28, for name Booby, etc.

A supposed "variety" of the species, called " Trowbridge's
Surf Duck," "Long-billed Surf Duck," etc., has been latterly
eliminated ; found to be, in other words, nothing more nor less
than this bird.

No. 3O.
Oidemia americana.

Adult male. Plumage black throughout, or practically so,
the upper parts glossy and slightly iridescent, the lower parts
having a more or less brownish cast. Bill (its upper division)
without noticeable encroachment of feathers, but with hump as

No. 30. Adult Male.

shown in picture, and large patch of orange changing to yellow
above ; this patch extending from base to front of nostrils and
including hump ; remainder of bill uniformly blackish, as are
legs and feet.

106

BIRD NAMES.

[No. 30.

Female. Much smaller than adult male; plumage dusky
grayish brown, paler or more or less mixed with dull white
about throat, lower part of head, lower breast, and belly. Bill

No. 30. Female.

with no hump, and plain blackish (or an almost uniform mixt-
ure of gray and black). Legs and toes brownish gray, the webs
black.

Young male. Closely resembling female.

Measurements about those of No. 29, but female of present
species often falling short of lowest figures there mentioned.

Range, as given in A. O. U. Check List : " Coasts and larger
lakes of northern North America ; breeds in Labrador and the
northern interior, south in winter to New Jersey, the Great
Lakes, and California."

AMERICAN SCOTER: AMERICAN BLACK SCOTER: formerly
believed identical with very similar European species (Oidemia
m^m)and referred to simply as SCOTER DUCK, BLACK SCOTER,
BLACK DIVER, etc. (without the prefix " American ").

In Maine, at Eastport, Millbridge, Frenchman's Bay, Ash

No. 30.] BIRD NAMES. 107

Point (near Eockland), Bath, Portland, and Pine Point, at Ports-
mouth, N. H., in Massachusetts at North Scituate, Barnstable,
Fairhaven, New Bedford, and Falmouth, and at Stony Creek,
Conn., BUTTER-BILL. In Maine at Machiasport, Jonesport, Mill-
bridge, and Kennebunk, and at Plymouth, Mass., YELLOW-BILL.
In Massachusetts at Pigeon Cove (Cape Ann), BUTTER-NOSE,
at North Plymouth, Fairhaven, and New Bedford, COPPER-NOSE
and COPPER-BILL, and at Edgartown, PUMPKIN-BLOSSOM COOT.
In Massachusetts at Salem and Cohasset, at Stonington, Conn.,
and on Long Island at Shinnecock Bay and Bellport, BLACK
COOT ; the female (and young) being known at Salem as SMUTTY
COOT, at Chatham, same state, as FIZZY, and at Bellport and
Moriches, L. L, as BROAD-BILLED COOT. Of the species as a
whole, De Kay says (Zoology of New York, 1844) : " Known on
this coast under the name of Broad-billed Coot, and farther east
by the name of Butter-bill." To some at Cohasset, BLACK BUT-
TER-BILL, and at Stony Creek, Conn., WHISTLING -COOT; at
Hudson's Bay, according to Fauna Boreali-Americana, 1831,
WHISTLING DUCK (No. 23 being the "whistler" of people gen-
erally).

I am credibly informed that in the vicinity of Eangely Lake,
Me., this bird is the SLEIGH-BELL DUCK; and according to
Water Birds of North America, it is called the HOLLOW-BILLED
COOT on "the Atlantic side of Long Island," this being "a desig-
nation applied in New England exclusively to the Surf Duck "
(No. 29) — I have myself never heard the name used for any
fowl.

The females and young (similar in appearance) are almost in-
variably regarded by duckers as a species distinct from the old
males, and though locally distinguished from the latter by names
previously mentioned, they are very generally classed under that
of GRAY COOT (see No. 29), and less commonly BROWN COOT.
The flesh of the young is highly esteemed by gunners, and, it
may be added, by almost every one who has ventured to try it.

See note preceding No. 28.

No. 31.

Erismatura mbida.

Body broad and flat ; neck, wings, and legs short ; feet large ;
bill almost as noticeably broad at end as Shoveller's, No. 14 ; tail
of stiff pointed feathers, wedge-shaped, and often cocked up
comically in the air.

The full-dressed drake very showy ; sides of head below eyes
white to throat ; top of head, and the nape bright black ; upper

;-

Adult Male (" full dr

.a/c/V

parts of body, with sides and neck, rich brownish red or ma-
hogany color; wings and tail brownish black; lower plumage
silver white waved with dusky gray. Feet bluish gray with
dark webs. Bill blue.

As usually found, however, the bill and feet are darker, and
the plumage practically that of the female, viz. : upper parts

No. 31.] BIRD NAMES. 109

blackish, intermingled with dull reddish brown ; the lower and
lighter part of head (see picture) grayish white with a dusky bar
running back from bill. Lower parts of body similar to plumage

No. 31. Female.

first described, but very much duller in tone. Indeed, in this
more common dress, the species has a cheap, soiled, and " shop-
worn" appearance.

Length about sixteen inches ; extent twenty-two to twenty-
three inches.

Range : North America in general.

Of its breeding -habits I know personally very little. Dr.
Coues says : " Breeding from northern border of United States
northward." A. O. U. Check List says : " Breeding throughout
most of its North American range." Professor Ridgway's
Manual (of 1886) does not mention its breeding-grounds.

Though this duck is a gourmand, and greatly inclined to
obesity, it is as quick a diver as any known species. When
wounded it pluckily struggles to escape to the last gasp, bleed-
ing all the time like a prize pig. I hear of its being sometimes
undone by a too bountiful food supply. Gunners near the mouth
of the Maumee River tell of finding these self-indulgent little
creatures floundering helplessly fat on the water, and in certain
seasons floating about in a dying condition, or dead, in consider-
able numbers.

HO BIRD NAMES. [No. 31.

RUDDY DUCK of Wilson, 1814. Though first introduced in
that year to the ornithologists, and as " very rare," the species
may have been familiar enough to the gunners under one or
more of the following names. It is difficult to believe that a
variety now so very common, and mentioned by Dr. Sharpless in
Doughty 's Cabinet, Vol. III., 1833, as abounding " in every nook
and cove " of the Chesapeake, was really as rare as "Wilson sup-
posed, though it has, doubtless, increased in numbers since his
time.

At Machiasport, Me., BLUE-BILL (see Nos. 17, 18, 19) ; at
Bath, Me., and Newport, K. L, BROAD-BILL (again, see Nos. 17,
18, 19 ; also No. 14) ; at Fairhaven, Mass., BROAD-BILL DIPPER;
at Stonington, Conn., HARD-HEADED BROAD-BILL; in New
Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton, and Atlantic City, SLEEPY
BROAD-BILL; at Kennebunk, Me., HORSE-TURD DIPPER (the
birds being so termed, I am told, from their habit, when alarmed,
of huddling together in a mass) ; at Provincetown, Mass., DIP-
PER, DOPPER, and DAPPER (see No. 24) ; at Eastville, Va., MUD
DIPPER; at Portsmouth, N. EL, BUMBLE-BEE COOT; in Mass.,
at Cohasset, CREEK COOT; to some at Cohasset, and commonly
at North Scituate (same state), HORSE-TURD COOT ; at Baltimore,
Md., COOT simply (see our Coot of the ornithologists No. 32;
also Nos. 28, 29, 30, 33, 37) ; to some in the vicinity of Plym-
outh, Mass., SPOON-BILL (see No. 14) ; in the neighborhood of
Niagara Falls, SPOON-BILLED BUTTER-BALL; occasionally at
Havre de Grace, Md., Norfolk, Va., Newberne, N. C., Savannah,
Ga., and commonly in Golden City, Mo., Palatka and Sandford,
Fla., BUTTER-BALL, the commonest name at Norfolk being
BUTTER-DUCK.

The Buffle-head, No. 24, may have a prior claim to " Butter-
ball" and "Butter-duck," but how would it do to leave the
Ruddy in full possession of all the names having butter in them,
and to call the former, which is less valuable for table use, the
Oleomargarine-ball, etc., etc. ?

We hear also at Norfolk BUTTER-BOWL, BATTER-SCOOT, and
BLATHER-SCOOT, and in the Norfolk Yirginian of December 12,
1884, the species is referred to as BLATHERSKITE and BLADDER-

No. 31.] BIRD NAMES. Hi

SCOOT. At Cohasset, Mass., and Newberne, N. C., SLEEPY-HEAD;
in New Jersey at Pleasant ville (Atlantic Co.), SLEEPY-DUCK; at
Pleasantville, Atlantic City, and Somers Point, SLEEPY COOT;
at Crisfield, Md., SLEEPY BROTHER.

In the vicinity of Detroit, and at Vienna Marsh, north of
Toledo, the book-name "Kuddy" has taken quite a hold even
among the market-gunners (the example of city sportsmen of
course). It is always a surprise to meet one of these authorized
names in actual service, particularly one like this, descriptive of
a state of plumage that the gunners are least familiar with.
Others at Detroit, and the "punters" of St. Clair Flats, refer
to the species still as FOOL-DUCK, DEAF-DUCK, and SHOT-POUCH
(the latter — considering the bird's ability to carry away shot —
being far from inappropriate). Commonly known at Chicago,
and in the Putnam Co. portion of the Illinois Eiver, and by
some at Norfolk, Ya., as BULL-NECK (see Nos. 15, 17) ; less com-
monly at Chicago, and more facetiously as STUB-AND-TWIST.

Since finishing the list of names heard by myself in more
northern localities, Mr. Henry. P. Ives, of Salem, Mass., a gentle-
man who is well acquainted with this species, tells me of hearing
it commonly called the DAUB-DUCK at Kangely Lake, Me.

In the vicinity of Plymouth, Mass., GOOSE WIDGEON; at
West Barnstable, same state, WIDGEON COOT, or WIDGEON sim-
ply (see our Widgeon of the books, No. 8 ; also Nos. 9, 12, 13,
17). In Massachusetts at Falmouth and Martha's Vineyard, in
Connecticut at Stonington, East Haddam, mouth of Connecticut
Eiver, Wilmington, N. C., and Savannah, Ga., HARD-HEAD ; to
some at Martha's Vineyard, TOUGH-HEAD. At Newport, K. I.,
Stratford, Conn., very generally on Long Island, and at Norfolk,
Va., BOOBY (see note preceding No. 28) ; and sometimes on the
south side of Long Island, BOOBY COOT.

"Looby" has also been recorded as a name for this species
(Zoology of New York, 1844, and elsewhere). I am inclined to
believe, however, that it originated in the index of Giraud's
Birds of Long Island, and is a misprint for Booby. If a mis-
take, it was a happy one, the two terms being synonymous.

At Ked Bank (Monmouth Co.), N. J., SALT-WATER TEAL,

112 BIRD NAMES. [No. 31.

and Giraud, 1844, speaks of its being known by this name to
gunners of Chesapeake Bay; in St. Augustine, Fla., BROWN
DIVING TEAL.

In the vicinity of Philadelphia, at Somers Point, N. J., to
some at Washington, D. C., and at Savannah, Ga., STIFF-TAIL ; at
Tuckerton, N. J., QUILL-TAIL COOT ; at St. Georges, Del. (Dela-
ware and Chesapeake Canal), and to some at Havre de Grace,
PIN-TAIL (the Pin-tail duck of books, &c., No. 13, being the
"Sprig-tail" in these localities); called also BRISTLE-TAIL at
St. Georges, and referred to in an article on " Chesapeake duck
shooting," by Dr. I. T. Sharpless, Cab. Nat. Hist., Vol. I., 1830
(" Doughty's Cabinet"), as HEAVY-TAILED DUCK. In index to
Giraud's Birds of Long Island, STICK-TAIL ; in TurnbulFs Birds
of East Pennsylvania and New Jersey, SPINE-TAIL ; at St. Au-
gustine, Fla., DIP-TAIL DIVER; in De Kay's Zoology of New
York, DUN-DIVER; in Samuels's O. and O. of New England,
RUDDY DIVER ; and Nuttall (1834), speaks of its being " common
in the market of Boston," and " generally known " as DUN-BIRD.

At Manasquan, N. J., HICKORY-HEAD ; at Havre de Grace,
Md., GREASER, this being the commonest name here for the
species ; and William Wagner, a well known Washington gun-
ner, tells of hearing it called WATER-PARTRIDGE, and STEEL-
HEAD, on the Patuxent River, Md. (their Partridge being Bob-
white, No. 42) ; in the markets of Washington the Ruddy is
known as ROOK. Just think of it, a duck called a rook under
the very shadow of the Smithsonian.

At Newberne, N. C., PADDY and NODDY. Any one familiar
with the species will understand why such terms as " noddy,"
" sleepy -head," " fool-duck," " booby," etc., are applied ; for
though these ducks are clever enough after having been wounded
or thoroughly aroused by the slaughter of their companions,
they are exceedingly stupid at other times. If they have not
been recently fired at, they exhibit very little fear at the ap-
proach of a boat, and even after having been awakened from
their dreams by the report of a gun, they will sometimes fly in
a dazed manner directly towards the shooter, and alight again
within easy shot. Two of the names referred to in this con-

No. 31.] BIRD NAMES. 113

nection are generally given to birds that have no place in a list
of this kind — " booby " belonging in the books and elsewhere to
the gannets — genus Sula; and "noddy" to a Southern species
of tern — Anous stolidus.

Another name at Newberne for the Ruddy, and a very popu-
lar one, is LIGHT -WOOD KNOT. " Light-wood " is a Southern
name for very resinous or fatty portions of pine, commonly ob-
tained from trees that have been " scraped " for turpentine.
The knot of this " light-wood " is proverbially hard, and the
appellation is therefore like " hard-head," " tough-head," " stub-
and-twist," etc., and refers to the difficulty sometimes experi-
enced in quieting these creatures. To put shot into a Ruddy
is one thing, to kill him quite another matter.

In the neighborhood of Morehead, K C., PADDY-WHACK ;
occasionally at "Wilmington, same state, DINKEY (" Hard-head "
being the common name) ; and one Wilmington ducker told me
of hearing the Ruddy called MICKEY by certain South Carolina
gunners, — " Don't you know," said he, " how, when they start,
they go dickey-dickey-dickey, patting the water with their wings
and feet?"

At Charleston, S. C., LEATHER-BACK; on the Savannah River
(above Savannah), DUMPLING-DUCK; and on the Ogeechee River,
Ga., HARD-TACK.

In 1885, while devoting myself particularly to the study of
this species, it seems to have been unusually common. The late
C. S. Westcott (" Homo ") wrote from Philadelphia to Forest
and Stream of Oct. 29 : " The number of Stiff-tails that have
come this year is beyond anything for years. Twenty-five to
thirty per boat are the average returns each day below Chester."
The same fall I was told by John Kleinman, of Chicago, who is
not only a " crack shot," but a close observer of the habits of
birds as well, that he had rarely if ever before seen Bull-necks
so numerous. Mr. J. S. Atwood, of Provincetown, Mass., wrote
me, Oct. 11 (1885): "These Dippers are very numerous at the
present time in this locality, and gunners will get from twenty
to thirty in a day. We never see them in salt-water." And Mr.
Atwood wrote again during the same month, " Some gunners

114; BIRD NAMES. [No. 31.

have shot as many as seventy-five in a day." In this year also,
I heard the duckers of Stony Creek, Conn., talking about a duck
that had lately come among them in considerable numbers. The
little stranger proved to be our friend the Ruddy. It had been
occasionally met with in previous years, but not often enough
to create general interest. I was several times asked whether
it was good to eat or not, what its real name was, etc.

No. 32.

Fulica americana.

Principally of a dark bluish slate color slightly tinged about
the back with olive brown, the head and neck black or blackish.
Feathers beneath tail white ; wings narrowly edged with white,
the secondaries (viz., feathers growing from second bone of wing)
broadly tipped with the same ; also somewhat whitish on lower

116 BIRD NAMES. [No. 32.

part of body. While the wings are closed (tightly closed) the
white of the secondaries is not visible, and the white edging to
the wings is not easily discerned. Bill of adult white, though
with three dusky spots forming an incomplete band about it
near tip. The bill is continued backward upon the forehead
by a thick gristly chestnut colored skin. This continuation,
or " frontal plate," is easily indented by the nail, in freshly
killed specimens, or moved about upon the bony structure which
it covers. Bill of young bird dusky flesh-color tinged greenish
towards the tip ; the " frontal plate " but partially developed.
Eyes carmine red. Legs yellowish green, or slate color with
greenish tinge, and dark or inky about the joints. Toes fur-
nished with broadly scalloped membrane.

Length fourteen to sixteen inches ; extent twenty-four to
twenty-eight inches.

A good swimmer, looking very duck-like on the water.

Weight of freshly killed adult in hand at this writing, twenty-
one ounces.

Kange, North America, from Greenland and Alaska to Cen-
tral America.

Though this species cannot be regarded as particularly in-
teresting to sportsmen, yet it is too intimately associated with
duck and rail shooting to be omitted from the list. Its flesh
has certainly not a good reputation with the community at
large, though champions may be found for almost any variety.
I have, for instance, heard the market-gunners and hucksters at
Norfolk, Ya., very loud in their praises of this bird ; some in-
deed declaring it superior to Canvas-back. But, though this
latter duck is usually much overrated, it brings the marketman
too good a price to be often tested at his table. At Wilming-
ton, N. C., they say that the present species is peculiarly deli-
cious after having fattened upon the rice fields, and we all know
how very much the food of a bird has to do with its quality.
We should be thankful that when from want of better sport
we slaughter fowl of this kind, people may be found ready
and willing to relieve our bags and consciences.

No. 32.] BIRD NAMES. 117

COOT: CINEREOUS COOT: COMMON COOT: the only bird in
the United States recognized as Coot by ornithologists (see Nos.
28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 37) ; more correctly termed AMERICAN COOT,
our bird differing slightly from the common coot of Europe.

I have not fallen in with this species, nor heard gunners
name it along the coast from the St. Croix to the Penobscot.
From Bangor to Cape Cod Bay, on the Niagara Eiver, at Lake
St. Clair, in the vicinity of Chicago, and on the Illinois Eiver,
it is the MUD-HEN (see No. 33) ; and Dr. David Crary, a veteran
sportsman of Hartford, Conn., tells of hearing it so termed in
Benton Co., Oregon. (For other " mud-hens," see Nos. 35, 36,
43.)

Rev. J. H. Langille, in Our Birds in their Haunts, 1884, de-
scribes its manner of rising from the water, " gradually with a
spatting, splattering noise," etc., adding, " very properly do the
Western hunters call this bird the SPLATTERER."

Again, from Bangor to Cape Cod Bay, MARSH-HEN (this be-
ing perhaps equally popular with " Mud-hen "), and Mr. Everett
Smith speaks of hearing it called the BLUE MARSH-HEN in
Maine.* (For other " marsh-hens," see ]STos. 33, 34, 35, 36.)

To some at Salem, Mass., and more commonly at Newport,
E. I., MEADOW-HEN (see No. 35) ; in Massachusetts at Province-
town, Buzzard's Bay, and West Barnstable, POND-HEN, and at
Falmouth, WATER-HEN (see No. 33), and Gosse (1847) speaks
of this latter term as so used in Jamaica — the name Coot being
given there to the Florida Gallinule.

At Havre de Grace, Md., MOOR-HEN, so termed by all (see
No. 33).

In Connecticut at East Haddam, and mouth of Connecticut
Eiver, and at Moriches, L.I., PULLDOO, a corruption of the French
poule d'eau (water-hen). Audubon (Ornith. Biog., III., 1835),
speaks of POULE D'EAU being applied in Louisiana to both this
bird and No. 35, and adds concerning the present species : " In
all other parts of the Union it is known by the name of Mud-
hen and Coot." "All other parts of the Union" was far too

* Birds of Maine, Forest and Stream, 1882-83.

118 BIRD NAMES. [Xo. 32.

broad a statement, it is in good keeping, however, with much
that has been written about bird names.

Mr. C. W. Beckham writes, in his Notes on the Birds of
Bayou Sara, La., Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, July, 1882 : " Known
here by the Creole name of POULET DEAN." (Dean— French
doyen, the eldest, chief, or oldest-looking poulet, compared with
those smaller water-hens or poulets, the gallinules — and rails
perhaps.)

To some at Buzzard's Bay, Mass., and commonly at East
Haddam, Conn., SEA-CROW;* to some at Stratford, Conn., and
at Baltimore, Md., CROW-BILL; in New Jersey at Manasquan,
Barnegat, and Tuckerton, Washington, D. C., Alexandria, Va.,
and Crisfield, Md., CROW-DUCK. Giraud (18M) speaks of its
being known "in some sections" of Long Island, and at Egg
Harbor, N. J., as WHITE-BILL and HEN-BILL. To a majority
of the gunners at Stratford, Conn., it is the PELICK.

Known very generally in Virginia, and southward to Florida,
and less commonly in latter state at Jacksonville, St. Augustine,
and Enterprise, as BLUE-PETER (quite familiar to the older
Floridians by this name) ; popularly known at Jacksonville, St.
Augustine, Enterprise, and Sanford by book-name, " Coot " — No.
33, however, sharing this name more or less indiscriminately
with the present species.

March, in his Notes on the Birds of Jamaica (1863-64), calls
it IVORY-BILLED COOT, and I have a memorandum crediting it
also with the name MUD-COOT, the locality, however, or source
from which derived, having been carelessly omitted.

The species is also credited with the name Flusterer. In
Wilson's Ornithology (where our bird is described as identical
with European Coot, F. atra) the following note appears : " In
Carolina, they are called flusterers, from the noise they make in

* A name given by many people along the coast from Cape May to Cape
Charles, to Black Skimmer, Rynchops nigra (not included in this book) ; this
is a long-winged gull-like bird with lower parts white, and legs red ; beak
black and red, and peculiarly compressed — " razor-billed ;" the upper man-
dible (upper division of bill) grooved to receive blade-like edge of much
larger lower mandible.

\

No. 32.] BIRD NAMES. 119

flying over the surface of the water. — A Yoyage to Carolina, by
John Lawson, p. 149." Audubon writes : " The appellation of
• flusterers ' given to it by Mr. Lawson in his History of South
Carolina, never came to my ear during my visits to that state."
And Nuttall speaks of the American Coot " fluttering along the
surface with both the wings and feet pattering over it ;" adding,
" for which reason, according to Lawson in his History of Caro-
lina, they had in that country received the name of Flusterers."
Now this is just what Lawson says in work referred to (1709) :
" Black Flusterers ; some call these Old Wives ; they are as black
as ink, the cocks have white faces, they always remain in the
midst of rivers, and feed upon drift grass, camels or sea-nettles ;
they are the fattest fowl I ever saw, and sometimes so heavy
with flesh that they cannot rise out of the water ; they make an
odd sort of noise when they fly. What meat they are, I could
never learn. Some call these the great bald Coot." Lawson
nowhere mentions the term " flusterers " alone, and advances no
reason for the naming, and his acquaintance with the bird that
always remained in the midst of rivers, and of whose meat he
could never learn, was certainly quite limited. It is not improb-
able that he got names and species somewhat mixed, and I am
inclined to believe that in the following extract from his book he
alludes rather more to Coot than to Florida Gallinule (No. 33) :
" Blue-Peters — the same as you call Water-hens in England, are
here very numerous, and not regarded for eating." The name
Blue-Peter was probably then, as now, generally applied in the
Carolinas to this more common and more Uue water-hen, No. 32.

No. 33.

G-allimila galeata.

Adult. Bluish slate color with (in full plumage) sooty black
head and neck ; the head sometimes more brownish than black.
In general appearance considerably like No. 32, though smaller.

No. 33. Adult

Slate color of lower belly mixed with white; purer white be-
neath tail and on edges of wings, as in Xo. 32, but decidedly
browner than the latter bird on back, tail, and portions of the
wings, and with white stripes on certain long loose feathers of

No. 33.] BIRD NAMES. 121

the sides, and no white on " secondaries." Brown of back, etc.,
of a chocolate tint, with occasional tinges of olive. Bill at its
end pea-green, the remainder, including the leathery continuation
covering forehead, red or nearly so. This continuation much
more extensive than in No. 32, and terminating squarely (not in
a point as in the latter bird). Legs pea-pod green, with dusky
joints ; this leg-color changed, however, next to feathering of
thighs, to bright yellow and orange red ; the feet without no-
ticeable membrane, " clean toed."

Young. Showing until long after attaining full size but
slightly developed " frontal shield " (as this leathery continua-
tion of bill over the forehead is sometimes called). Bill with no
red anywhere about it ; its end green, but less bright than in
adult ; remainder of bill, including encroachment upon forehead,
dark greenish brown. Head and neck with no true black.
Plumage of lower parts considerably mixed with white. Legs,
immediately beneath feathering of thigh, light orange green
with no red.

Length thirteen to fourteen inches, or a little more; extent
twenty to twenty -two inches. Weight fourteen ounces.

Found here and there from the British Provinces southward
to southern parts of South America.

I did not originally intend to include this species, and have
therefore omitted to gather its common names as completely as
I would otherwise have done. Though its range is wide, it is
numerous in comparatively few localities. It is found very
closely associated with the American Coot, No. 32, but is seen
much less often on the wing, or upon the open water. Its habit
of keeping a greater part of the time out of sight in the tall
marsh-grass, and its resemblance at a distance to No. 32, have
kept its name from many " local lists." It is a better bird for
the table than the Coot — " a heap-sight sweeter meat," as my
colored boatman expressed it.

FLORIDA GALLINULE: AMERICAN GALLINULE: COMMON
GALLINULE: SCARLET -FRONTED GALLINULE: WATER-HEN
(see No. 32).

122 BIRD NAMES. [No. 33.

In a list of the birds of Oneida Co. and its vicinity, New York
— Ralph and Bagg, 1886 — this species is mentioned as " very com-
mon on the marshes of Seneca River," and locally known as
WATER-CHICKEN.

In Connecticut, at East Haddam, and Essex, at Havre de
Grace, Md., and to many at Enterprise, Fla., KING-RAIL (see
No. 34:) ; and we read in Forest and Stream, October 2, 1879, of
its " Natural History Editor " killing the species on the meadows
of the Housatonic, the writer adding — "called in that state
(Conn.) the King-rail." The species is more common in Con-
necticut than many suppose. One of the young birds used in
my description was killed while rail-shooting at East Haddam ;
a number having been shot there during the same month, Sep-
tember, 1886, and five of them certainly during one tide.

At Washington, D. C., KING-ORTOLAN, and less commonly,
MARSH-PULLET; at Alexandria, Ya., KING-SORA. The name
King-ortolan is given by Coues and Prentiss (Birds of District
Columbia, 1861-62) as an alias of Eallus elegans, No. 34 ; but No.
33 is certainly the king-rail of the District now (1887), and it
may be added, is much more like an enlarged form of " ortolan "
No. 37.

In the vicinity of Lake St. Clair, about Chicago, and to some
at Enterprise, Fla., MUD-HEN, and a friend writes from latter
state as follows (being provided with a stuffed specimen) : "At
Indian River I showed it to six men in one day, and each said
at once, ' that's a mud-hen.' On being asked if it were not a
c blue-peter,' they said no, that's a different bird. One man said,
'There ain't no other name for that bird but mud-hen."1 "

In the western localities mentioned this species is numerous
enough to be thoroughly well known, and is commonly recog-
nized as a much superior bird to No. 32. Yet many gunners
loosely use the term "mud-hen" for each. Others, however,
in these localities and on the Illinois River (in Putnam Co., at
least) who are more particular in such matters, distinguish the
Gallinule as RICE-HEN, and again at Detroit and other points
near Lake St. Clair, as RED-BILLED MUD-HEN, MOOR-HEN (see
No. 32), and MARSH-HEN. (For other " marsh-hens," see Nos.

No. 33.] BIRD NAMES. 123

32, 34, 35, 36.) At St. Augustine, Fla., many class the Gallinule
indiscriminately with No. 32, as COOT, and Gosse (1847), speaks
of No. 33 being known as Coot in Jamaica, where No. 32 is the
" Water-hen." (For other " coots," see Nos. 28, 29, 30, 31, 37.)

Some distinguish the Gallinule at St. Augustine as SUMMER-
COOT, and at Enterprise as MUD-PULLET, and again in latter
locality, and at Sanford same state, as the Florida Gallinule
or Gallinule simply, probably through the influence of sports-*
men from other parts. A majority, however, on this southern
shore of Lake Monroe, term it Mud-hen. A bright - looking
young fellow at Sanford, Fla., to whom I showed a freshly
killed specimen, told me that he had always known it as the
BLACK GALLINULE — the word "black" distinguishing it from
the Purple Gallinule, lonornis martinica (a smaller, less com-
mon, green and purplish-blue bird, not included in this book). I
showed the same specimen to a Sanford negro who said, " Why,
dat a coot," adding, after I had pointed out the difference,
" Yes, but day both coots." Another darky broke into the
conversation with " Naw, dat no coot, coot got a white bill, dat
a marsh -hen." The name Marsh -hen, nevertheless, is usually
applied at Sanford to No. 34.

Health-seekers from numerous regions have greatly demor-
alized the vernacular of cracker, negro, etc., in Florida, and
nowhere can there be found a nomenclature more completely
muddled. A single species will have perhaps a half-dozen aliases
in a single neighborhood, each alias being familiar alone to the
man from whom you hear it. I encountered great difficulties
while collecting bird names along the more northern coast of
Maine, but my labor up there was pure play compared with ex-
periences in the far South. Many names heard at these extremi-
ties (the latter in particular) I have omitted, regarding them as
simply, or little more than, individual oddities. Nevertheless,
enough has been winnowed from the chaff to serve as a par-
tial key to enigmas. I should perhaps add that the negroes
of Florida are far more familiar as a rule with birds and beasts
than the whites are, though this is saying but very little.

No. 34.
Rallus elegans.

Above blackish brown and yellowish tan, the feathers being
edged with latter tint, and broadly striped along their centres
with the former ; top of head nearly plain dark brown, a whit-
ish line from bill over eye ; side of head varying from tan color
to gray ; front of wing deep reddish tan color, nearly plain ;

No. 34.] BIRD NAMES. 125

throat white ; front of neck and breast nearly plain tan, or
reddish cinnamon, this changing to a whitish mixture on lower
surface of body ; sides, flanks, and about thighs barred broad-
ly with dark brown or black, and narrowly with white ; the
feathers immediately beneath the tail white, with touches of
black and blackish brown. Bill blackish brown on top and at
end, remainder brownish yellow. Legs yellowish brown with
grayish olive tinge.

Length seventeen and a half to nineteen inches ; extent
twenty -three and a half to twenty -five inches ; bill two and
one eighth to two and a half inches.

Range, as given in A. O. U. Check List, 1886: "Fresh-water
marshes of the Eastern Province of the United States, from the
Middle States, Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, and Kansas south-
ward. Casually north to Massachusetts, Maine, and Ontario."

KING RAIL; a name given also to No. 33, the present species,
however, being the King Rail of " the books." Audubon speaks
of killing " one female [of No. 34] in New Jersey, a few miles from
Camden, in July, 1832," and " on inquiring of numerous hunt-
ers," was told " that they now and then obtained a few of these
birds, which they considered as very rare, and knew only by the
name of ' King Rails.' " (See No. 33 for name King Ortolan.)

Also termed, in print at least, GREAT RED-BREASTED RAIL,
FRESH-WATER MARSH-HEN (see No. 36), FRESH- MARSH HEN,
and FRESH-WATER HEN.

Very generally known throughout the South as MARSH-
HEN simply, sharing this name, however, indiscriminately with
the more common SaZt-w&ter Marsh-hen, No. 35, a similar bird,
confused with the present species by many gunners, as it was,
indeed, by Wilson,* the " father of American ornithology."

* Audubon, who exposed this confusion, wrote as follows : " No doubt
exists in my mind that Wilson considered this beautiful bird as merely the
adult of Rallus crepitans [No. 35], the manners of which he described, as
studied at Great Egg Harbor, in New Jersey, while he gave in his works the
figure and coloring of the present species. My friend Thomas Nuttall has
done the same, without, I apprehend, having seen the two birds together."

No. 35.

Ralhis longirostris crepitans.

Similar in general appearance to No. 34, but lower parts much
less reddish— dull buff instead; upper parts more uniform in
color, and more grayish or leaden in tone ; the dark bars about
thighs, flanks, etc., less dark ; belly sometimes broadly white.

Bill practically as in No. 34. Legs gray, with yellowish or
orange tinge about upper joint.

No. 35.] BIRD NAMES. 127

Length fourteen to sixteen inches ; extent nineteen to twenty-
one inches.

Frequenting salt marshes of Atlantic coast in large numbers
from Long Island Sound southward, and occasionally found as
far north as Massachusetts.

CLAPPER RAIL: MEADOW CLAPPER: SALT-WATER MEADOW-
HEN: SALT-WATER MARSH-HEN: SALT-MARSH HEN: BIG RAIL.

In Connecticut at Stony Creek and Stratford, on Long Isl-
and at Bellport, Seaford, and Freeport, and to some on Cobb's
Island, Ya., MEADOW-HEN. Also at Freeport, and in New Jer-
sey at Red Bank, Monmouth Co., Manasquan, Barnegat, Tucker-
ton, Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), Atlantic City, Dennisville, and
Cape May C. II., MUD-HEN. (For other " mud-hens," see Nos.
32, 33, 36, 43.) At Pleasantville above mentioned, at Pocomoke
City, Md., on Cobb's Island, Va., and very generally to the
southward, MARSH-HEN. (See JFresk-wa,ter Marsh-hen, No. 34,
frequently confused with the present species, and termed also in
many localities Marsh-hen simply. For other " marsh-hens," see
Nos. 32, 33, 36.) Again at Pocomoke City, Md., and at Eastville,
Ya., SEDGE-HEN; very generally so called in these localities.

Gosse, in Birds of Jamaica, 1847, quotes an account of this
rail written by his " friend, Mr. Hill," of Spanish-Town, in which
it is stated that " the country people " call it the MANGROVE-
HEN, and that " it greatly resembles the dappled gray variety
of the common fowl," rambling about " with its callow brood,
like a hen and chickens."

No. 36.

Rallus virginianns.

Upper plumage chiefly brownish black, the feathers edged
with pale yellowish brown ; side of head gray, blackening at
base of bill; a light streak (grayish and pale buff) from near
bill, backward over eye ; top of head nearly plain blackish brown ;
wing in front reddish tan or mahogany color, with extreme fore
edge of wing narrowly touched with pure white ; throat whit-

No. 36.

ish; front of neck and front and sides of breast chiefly tan
color ; feathers of flanks black, narrowly barred at ends with
white ; feathers which cover from vent to end of tail variegated
with black, white, and tan ; thighs and along middle of breast
gray, with whitish and light buff tints intermingled. Bill black
above, and reddish flesh color below. Legs grayish brown.
Length eight and a half to nine and three quarter inches ;

No. 36.] BIRD NAMES. 129

extent thirteen and a quarter to thirteen and three quarter
inches ; the bill, measured along its side, one and a quarter to
one and a half inches.

Found here and there all along the coast, but met with
oftener farther inland ; a bird of the reedy swamp or marsh
grass ; widely distributed, but nowhere very numerous ; though,
perhaps, sometimes found fat, it has never been my luck to kill
one that was not in a rather emaciated condition. I will add
(as Mr. Sheppard has not shown the feet in his picture) that this
bird's toes are free, like those of our other rails ; that is to say,
they are without webs or membranous attachments of any kind.

VIRGINIA RAIL: LITTLE RED-BREASTED RAIL: Wilson says,
1813 : " Known to some of the inhabitants along the sea-coast
of New Jersey by the name of the FRESH-WATER MUD-HEN :"
Nuttall, 1834, calls it LESSER CLAPPER RAIL and SMALL MUD-
HEN: Giraud, in Birds of Long Island, 1844, speaks of its being
" known to gunners and sportsmen " as FRESH-WATER MARSH-
HEN (a name more commonly applied to No. 34). The late
C. S. Westcott (" Honlo ") describing " Kail Shooting on the
Delaware" — Forest and Stream, Jan. 1, 1874 — terms it RED
RAIL, and states " that where fifty soras " (species No. 37) " are
killed, but one or two red rails are boated."

In the vicinity of Salem, Mass., it is distinguished from the
common rail, No. 37, as LONG-BILLED RAIL, but in most locali-
ties, in spite of longer bill, etc., it is loosely classed by gunners
and marketmen with No. 37, under one of the latter's common
names ; the difference between the species, however, being over-
looked rather than unobserved.

No. 37.
Porzana Carolina.

Adult. Above brown (" old gold " brown) with black on
centres of feathers ; a narrow edging of white to feathers of fore-
back and portions of wings. Bill yellowish green with much of
its lower division bright yellow. Front of upper neck, throat,
about bill, and streak running back on top of head, black ; sides
of head and neck, and the breast, bluish slate color ; belly nearly

No. 3T. Adult.

No. 37.] BIRD NAMES. 131

white ; feathers immediately beneath tail, buff, or buff and white ;
sides of body, flanks, and lining of wings, barred white and brown,
the brown replaced more or less on some individuals by black.
Legs dull yellowish green.

Young. Without the black about head and throat, the slate
color of breast, etc., being brownish in these regions, with dingy
white throat. Upper parts generally of a lighter, more yellowish

1

No. 3T. Young.

brown. Lower surface of body light buff ; the fore-breast simi-
lar to, or having the colors of, the upper parts. In other re-
spects much as in adult.

Length eight and a half to nine inches ; extent about four-
teen inches.

Eange, as given in A. O. U. Check List (1886) : Temperate
North America, but most common in the Eastern Province,
breeding chiefly northward. South to West Indies and north-
ern South America.

CAROLINA CRAKE: CAROLINA CRAKE GALLINULE: SOREE
GALLINULE: LITTLE AMERICAN WATER-HEN : CAROLINA RAIL :
AMERICAN RAIL: COMMON RAIL: SORA RAIL,

132 BIRD NAMES. [No. 37.

Known in New England very generally, and southward to
New Jersey, as RAIL simply, this being occasionally heard here
and there as far south as Florida. Giraud, in his Birds of Long
Island, 1844, speaks of its being " known to the gunners by the
name of ENGLISH RAIL," and De Kay, same date, Zoology of
New York, mentions the latter name as one used in the South.

In New Jersey the gunners almost universally refer to the
species as RAIL-BIRD, the word bird having been added, I sup-
pose, to conform better with the name reed-bird,* these two
species (the reed and rail birds) being commonly shot in one
and the same reedy swamp, and together sent to market.

At Salem, Mass., it is distinguished from Long-billed Hail
No. 36, as CHICKEN-BILLED RAIL or CHICKEN-BILL, and at East
Haddam, Conn., it is the MEADOW CHICKEN (or Meadow Chick),
the name Rail, though now in general use there, having been
introduced by city sportsmen, who only a few years ago dis-
covered that the East Haddam marshes were worth visiting.

At Washington, D. C., and Pocomoke Cit}^ (Worcester Co.),
Md., ORTOLAN (see foot-note concerning " reed-bird "). Gener-
ally known in Virginia and southward to southern part of North
Carolina as SORA and SOREE. Catesby, in his Nat. Hist. Car-
olina, Florida, etc., 1731, gives this latter form (Soree), and
Burnaby, describing travels " in the years 1759 and 1760," terms
it SORUS, and speaks of meeting with the bird in Virginia dur-
ing October, " at the tables of most of the planters, breakfast,
dinner, and supper," and states in a note that " in several parts
of Virginia the antient custom of eating meat at breakfast still
continues."

In southern North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia,
COOT, the bird being unrecognized by many by any other title.
(For other " coots," see Nos. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33.)

* Our Reed-bird — Dolichonyx oryzivorm — termed also Bobolink, Rice-bird,
Skunk Blackbird, Ortolan, etc., is not included in this list. It is shot only
for the "pot," having nothing more gamy about it than the English Sparrow
has. I will add that I have nowhere found it called " Ortolan" but in print,
and that the far-famed and delicious little Ortolan of Europe, from which the
name is borrowed, is known to scientists as Emberiza Jwrtulana.

No. 37.] BIRD NAMES. 133

The more common way of killing rail is familiar to many of
us, viz., shooting them at high tide from the bow of a boat which
is being poled through reeds and rushes by a man at the stern.
In some localities, however, no powder is wasted. In the vicin-
ity of Wilmington, K. C., for instance, the negroes, who do the
greater part of the rail-killing, hunt them at night with pine
torch and whip of brush-wood. The birds, interrupted at their
supper of rice, wild oats, etc., are knocked down by this handful
of brush, as they sit dazed by the light, or as they lazily attempt
to wing their fat little bodies from harm's way. Neatly picked
and tied in bunches, they bring the darkies from fifty to seventy-
« five cents per dozen.

No. 38.
Tympanuchus americanns.

Male. Head slightly crested ; on either side of neck a long
tuft of narrow feathers of uneven length, the longer ones black ;

No. 38. Male (with neck-sacs inflated), and glimpse of Female.

beneath each tuft a bare spot of loose yellowish skin which the
bird has the power of inflating. Most of the upper plumage barred

No. 38.] BIRD NAMES. 135

transversely with dark brown varying to blackish and light tan
color, the latter tint fading to white here and there. Under
parts and sides regularly marked white and brown, in well-de-
fined bars ; throat buff. Legs covered to the toes with hairy
feathers of drabbish tint, but more sparingly than in No. 39;
the toes yellow brown.

Female. Similar to male, though with shorter, insignificant
neck-tufts.

Length seventeen to eighteen inches; extent about twenty-
eight inches.

This is the common pinnated grouse of Western prairies (and
Eastern markets), regarded until very recently as identical with
our once common Eastern variety which still exists upon Martha's
Vineyard, Mass. Mr. Brewster, in the Auk of January, 1885,
showed us that our Eastern bird (now known as Tympanuchus
cupido) differs from the above-described Western variety, in be-
ing smaller, more reddish brown above, less white below, shorter
legged, neck-tuft feathers " narrower and acutely instead of ob-
tusely lance pointed ;" the neck-tufts having also but four or
five, instead of from seven to ten rigid feathers. Again, that our
Eastern bird is "a woodland species, inhabiting scrubby tracts
of oak and pine." This discovery — exceedingly interesting to
scientists — is not important to gunners, the latter having practi-
cally nothing to do with the remaining handful of Eastern birds.
" It is not unlikely," writes Mr. Brewster, " that the two forms
intergraded over such intermediate ground as Western Pennsyl-
vania and Eastern Ohio and Kentucky." How far to the east
or west this intergradation extended it is, of course, impossible
to tell. The names by which the two varieties have been known
are as follows, no satisfactory separation being possible under
the circumstances.*

PINNATED GROUSE: PRAIRIE HEN: PRAIRIE CHICKEN: (see
No. 39) : HEATH HEN (see No. 40), this being an early Eastern

* There is still another pinnated-grouse variety, found in the Southwest,
and known in the books as Tympan-uchus pallidicinctus, also as Texas Prairie
Hen, Lesser Prairie Hen, and Pale Pinnated Grouse. •

136 BIRD NAMES. [Xo. 38.

name still applied in the vicinity of Martha's Vineyard to native
birds, and to the Western grouse that have been introduced there.
(I have one of the latter variety in my collection, shot at Fal-
mouth, Mass., 1884). On Long Island — though no longer found
there — pinnated grouse are still referred to as "heath-hens"
by many of the older inhabitants. Dr. Mitchell in a letter to
Wilson, dated 1810, concerning the Long Island birds, says :
" Known there emphatically by the name of GROUSE " (see No.
39), adding, however, that "the more popular name for them
is heath-hens."

Other old names are BARREN HEN, HEATH COCK, and PIN-
NATED HEATH COCK. It was a common practice in early times
to name our different grouse after " heath-game " of the old
country. William Wood, speaking of our "birds and fowle"
in New England's Prospect, 1634, says : " The flesh of the heath-
cocks is red, and the flesh of a partridge white ;" and Daniel
Denton, in A Brief Description of New York, 1670, tells of
" heath-hens, quails, partridges," etc., as being found " in great
store." Wilson relates a funny anecdote connected with the
passage of a New York game law in 1791 : " The bill was en-
titled, ' An Act for the preservation of Heath-hen and other
game.' The honest chairman of the Assembly — no sportsman,
I suppose — read the title, 'An Act for the preservation of
heathen, and other game,' which seemed to astonish the Northern
members, who could not see the propriety of preserving Indians,
or any other heathen."

No. 39.

Pediocaetes phasianellus campestris.

Without noticeable neck -tufts; tail-feathers graduated in
length, the two central ones projecting as in picture; head
slightly crested ; hairy feathers covering legs down to between
the toes ; the toes gray. Upper plumage, in general, a closely

m

sitSt!";^

variegated mixture of buff, or grayish buff, tan color, and black,
the buff tint sometimes paling to white here and there ; the
wing near body similarly colored, remainder of wing gray with
spots and bars of white ; throat buff. Lower parts, including
wing-lining, chiefly white (snowy white), variegated about as in

138 BIRD NAMES. [No. 39.

picture, with blackish brown U-shaped and V-shaped markings
and touches of buff or light yellow-tan, the latter tint showing
most noticeably along upper sides of body, where the markings
are bolder and bar-like ; the hairy feathers of the legs tinged
with grayish buff.

Length seventeen to nineteen inches ; extent twenty-six to
twenty-nine inches.

This " chicken " is even more desirable, I think, than the pin-
nated kind (No. 38) for table use, and late in the season is a
favorite in other respects, lying close to the dog, and jumping
one or two at a time, instead of in a great " pack " a gun-shot
away.

Kange, as given in Mr. Kidgway's Manual, 1887 : " Great
Plains of United States, north to Manitoba (?), east to Wisconsin
and northern Illinois, west to eastern Colorado, south to eastern
New Mexico."

Until 1884 this grouse was regarded by every one as iden-
tical with Pedioccetes phasianellus columbianus, a variety whose
range Mr. Kidgway gives as " Northwestern United States, south
to northern California, Nevada, and Utah, east to western edge
of Great Plains in Montana, north, chiefly west of Eocky Moun-
tains (?) to Fort Yukon, Alaska."

Our more eastern form (campestris) differs from columbianus,
according to Mr. Kidgway, in having the " ground color above
more rusty or ochraceous." This difference, though interesting
to naturalists, is something that gunners need not bother their
heads with. The scientists themselves do not always agree
about these very nice distinctions.

My list of names was prepared before hearing of the above
distinction, but it will not be best to change it much now, the
two forms having until so very recently been referred to as one
and the same. Indeed, no satisfactory separation of these names
is possible under the circumstances.

SHARP -TAILED GROUSE, or SHARP-TAIL : PIN -TAILED
GROUSE, or PIN-TAIL : in Hallock's Sportsman's Gazetteer, 1878,
SPRIG-TAIL : (No. 13, a duck, is also called Sharp-tail, Pin-tail,

No. 39.] BIRD NAMES. 139

and Sprig-tail): PIN-TAIL CHICKEN: SPOTTED CHICKEN. In por-
tions of our Northwest where the pinnated grouse (No. 38) are
not found, this bird is the PRAIRIE CHICKEN ; and Dr. Coues
terms it PRAIRIE CHICKEN OF THE NORTHWEST. Popularly
known also as WHITE-BELLY, and in some localities as WHITE
GROUSE, the latter name immediately suggesting the ptarmigans
(those grouse that turn white in winter), but to people familiar
with our live sharp-tails, the word " white " seems rather ap-
propriately applied, as the birds display so much of their white
while flying. Mr. T. S. Yan Dyke writes in a reminiscence of
Minnesota shooting (Forest and Stream, Nov. 27, 1884) : " Gen-
erally called the white grouse."

At Clarks (Merrick Co.), Nebraska, GROUSE (so termed, at
least, in 1883), the pinnated species (No. 38) being the " prairie
chicken." While shooting in the latter locality I was led to the
conclusion that sharp-tails are rather more migratory than is
generally believed. About November 10, 1883, during a cold
storm, large numbers of these birds came upon us very suddenly.
Not one had previously been seen, though several hunters, my-
self among them, had for a month or more been scouring the
prairies almost daily.

Our United States sharp-tails have long been distinguished
from the more northern and darker-colored variety Pediocwtes
phasiandlus* by the names COLUMBIAN SHARP -TAILED
GROUSE, COMMON SHARP -TAILED GROUSE, and SOUTHERN
SHARP-TAILED GROUSE; and Mr. Henshaw, in an article headed
"Prairie Chickens in Nevada," Forest and Stream, April 11,
1878, gives SOUTHERN SPIKE-TAILED GROUSE.

The " common " or English name designed expressly for
campestris is PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE; this has cer-
tainly never been applied to any other sharp-tail ; is, in other
words, brand new.

* The range of this Northern Sharp-tailed Grouse (the " Long-tailed Grouse "
of Edwards, 1750) is given by Mr. Ridgway as "Interior of British America,
north to Fort Simpson, Fort Resolution, and Great Slave Lake, south to Moose
Factory, Temiscarningue, Lake Winnipeg, and northern shore of Lake Supe-
rior."

No. 40.
Dendragapus canadensis.

Adult male. Head, neck, and back, barred with brownish
black and slate-gray ; wings light brown variegated with darker
brown, gray, and occasional touches of white ; tail-feathers very
dark brown with light brown tips ; throat black, skirted with
speckled white ; front of breast plain brownish black ; sides of
body variegated with grayish buff, dark brown, and white arrow-

No. 40. Adult Male.

like markings ; lower surface blackish brown, variegated with
white. A red membrane (or comb) over the eye. Legs feath-
ered to the toes.

Female. Membrane over the eye less noticeable ; tail barred,
tan color and dark brown. Legs feathered as in male. General
plumage a bright speckled mixture of light tan, dark brown,

No. 40.] BIRD NAMES. 141

light gray, and white ; the white not appearing upon the back
proper, scarcely present about the head and neck, and showing
most noticeably on the lower parts.

No. 40. Female.

Measurements about as follows : length fifteen to sixteen and
a quarter inches ; extent twenty-one to twenty-two inches.

This is not a well-known grouse to our gunners generally, as
it is not met with very far south of our northern border. As a
game bird it affords but little sport, comparatively, and its flesh,
though sometimes good, at other times is disagreeably tinctured
with the qualities of spruce buds or similar diet.

CAN ADA GROUSE: SPRUCE-GROUSE: SPRUCE PARTRIDGE:
CEDAR PARTRIDGE: SWAMP PARTRIDGE: WOOD PARTRIDGE:
WOOD GROUSE, (this term, like that of " timber-grouse," being
sometimes broadly used to indicate grouse which inhabit woods,
as opposed to those of the "open" or prairie): BLACK GROUSE:
SPOTTED GROUSE.

At Eastport, Me., where the name Spruce-partridge is used
to designate this bird, the Ruffed - grouse, No. 41, is called
Birch-partridge, while at Jonesport, same state, the latter bird is
Partridge simply, and the present species HEATH-HEN (see No.
38). This latter name suggests also that lengthy title applied in

142 BIRD NAMES. [No. 40.

the middle of the last century (by Edwards) i. e., BLACK AND
SPOTTED HEATHCOCK, and it will be observed that the practice
of christening our different grouse after " heath-game " of the
old country was a very common one.

No. 41.
Bonasa umbelhis.

The markings of this loosely feathered grouse are peculiarly
complicated, and its prevailing tints variable ; the difference be-
tween the grayest bird and the brownest, even in one and the
same locality, being very great. Some may consider a descrip-
tion useless of a bird so well known as this. Yet I have myself
shot with old and experienced gunners on Western prairies and
Southern sea coast who had never seen a living or dead specimen
of the species.

I will describe a pair of freshly killed adults now in hand.

Male. Upper parts reddish brown and gray, with touches

144 BIRD NAMES. [No. 41.

of dull black ; on the back arrow-head or heart-shaped spots of
light gray ; the loose feathers of the neck (hackles) and those
sweeping backward from shoulder regions boldly mottled red-
dish brown and black, and streakily marked with light gray ; at
either side of neck a glossy black "ruff" or "shoulder-knot,"
the feathers forming these being cut almost squarely at their
broadened ends, and differing greatly from the long, narrow,
neck-feathers of the pinnated grouse (No. 38) ; upper neck, back
and sides of head, and crest, a speckled mixture of the bird's tints
generally ; tail light gray with faint 'tints of yellowish brown,
broadly spreading like a fan, crossed by wavy black lines, and
near its extremity by a broad black bar ; much of upper plumage
minutely flecked with black. Belly and breast mottled or broken-
ly barred, and feathering of flanks more broadly and decidedly
barred with dusky brown and white ; lower neck, sides of breast,
and much of under parts tinged, or dulled, with light yellowish
brown, a richer yellowish tint showing itself back of the vent ;
throat buff ; front of neck crossed by narrow, dark brown, white,
and bright tan markings. Toes, and naked part of leg just above
them, gray; remainder of leg covered with hairy feathers of
brownish white. Bill " horn color," dark above and light below.

Female. Throughout quite similar to male, but upper parts
more brownish, chiefly, perhaps, about head and tail ; the light
arrow-head spots of the back washed with brown ; the front of
neck between the ruffs noticeably reddish brown or bright tan,
without the narrow dark brown and white markings ; neck-tufts
very considerably smaller than in male, less cleanly black, and
without noticeable gloss or lustre.

Measurements of species as frequently given : length eigh-
teen inches ; extent twenty-three or twenty-four inches. Dr.
Coues, in his Key of 1884, gives length sixteen to eighteen inches ;
extent twenty-three inches.

The birds just described measure and weigh as follows :
Male : length nineteen and three eighth inches ; extent twenty-
four and a quarter inches ; tail from point of " pope's nose " to
end of central feathers, six and five eighth inches ; Aveight twenty-
two ounces. Female : length seventeen and one eighth inches ;

No. 41.] BIRD NAMES. 145

extent twenty-two and a quarter inches ; tail (measured as be-
fore) a trifle less than four and seven eighth inches ; weight
twenty-one and a half ounces.

RUFFED GROUSE: RUFFED HEATH-COCK (" Buffed Heath-
cock, or Grous " of Edwards, 1758 : see Nos. 38 and 40 for other
early applications of the name Heath-cock to our grouse) :
BROWN RUFFED GROUSE:* DRUMMING GROUSE: SHOULDER-
KNOT GROUSE of Latham, who tells us (1783) of its being "called
by some the DRUMMING-PARTRIDGE;" and J. Sabine, in Appen-
dix to Franklin's Journal, 1823, speaks of the name Shoulder-
knot Grouse as " well known to the British settlers in the north-
ern parts."

" Frank Forester " says : " Properly called the Kuffed or TIP-
PET GROUSE," and further remarks, " It is, therefore, equally
unsportsmanlike and unscientific to call the bird pheasant or
partridge ; and it is, moreover, as needless as it is a stupid bar-
barism, since the bird has an excellent good name of its own,
by which it should invariably be styled, whether in writing or
in conversation, by every one claiming to share the spirit of the
gentle sportsman." — American edition of Hawker, 1846. "Gentle
sportsman" sounds funnily after such a tirade, and we could
smile broadly at the whole thing, had not this author's teachings
done so much to demoralize genuine young lovers of out-door
sport.

To some Canadians, WHITE - FLESHER ; and this name is re-

* Dr. Coues so distinguishes it (Birds of the Northwest, 1874) from other
varieties of ruffed grouse, which are now recorded in A. O. U. Code and
Check List, 1886, as follows : Canadian Ruffed Grouse— Bonasa umbellm togata
— found in densely timbered portions of northern Maine and the British
Provinces, west to eastern Oregon and Washington Territory ; Gray Ruffed
Grouse — B. u. umbelloides— Rocky Mountain region of United States and Brit-
ish America, north to Alaska; Oregon Ruffed Grouse — B. u. sabini — Coast
mountains of Oregon, Washington Territory, and British Columbia. As Dr.
Coues says, the reader " may ignore the varieties unless he desires to be very
precise. They are merely geographical races of the same bird, differing a
little in color according to certain climatic influences to which they are re-
spectively subjected."
10

146 BIRD NAMES. [No. 41.

corded as "Anglo-American " in Fauna Boreali-Americana, 1831.
Again in the British Provinces, and at Calais and Eastport, Me.,
BIRCH PARTRIDGE ; and from this to Pennsylvania, PARTRIDGE
simply (see No. 42). In the latter state and throughout the bird's
southern range (to Georgia and Arkansas), it is the PHEASANT,
though in Virginia and the Carolinas we sometimes hear it re-
ferred to as the MOUNTAIN PHEASANT.

In Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, edition 1788, the names
" Pheasant " and " Mountain Partridge " are given as belonging
to one and the same species, i. e., " Urogallus minor, or a ki. of
Lagopus ;" and Bar-train, in Travels through North and South
Carolina, etc., 1791, mentions (page 286) " Tetrao urogallus, or
mountain cock or grous of Pennsylvania ;" and again (page 290),
" Tetrao lagopus, the mountain cock, or grous." These quota-
tions indicate, in spite of the confusing Latin, an early applica-
tion of the word " mountain " to our mountain - loving Ruffed
Grouse. Bartram, while describing an evening in the north-
western part of South Carolina, in the edition of his Travels just
cited, doubtless refers to the same species, when he speaks (page
331) of " the wary MOOR FOWL thundering in the distant echo-
ing hills."

In a Natural History of North Carolina, 1737, John Brickell,
M. D. (a quack who stole almost all of his material from Lawson),
speaks of our " pheasants " differing from those in Ireland, and
being " rather better and finer meat ;" " their flesh," he adds, " is
good in hectick fevers, the gall sharpens the sight, and the blood
resists poison."

No. 43.

Colimis virginianus.

Male. Principally reddish brown, but with touches of black,
gray, buff, and considerable white. Stripe along upper part of
eye, white or nearly so ; throat-patch white, ending below against

No. 42. Male, and glimpse of Female.

black collar-like shading ; the white also speckling sides of neck,
mixing with reddish brown and numerous waved and V-shaped
lines of black upon the breast and along the sides of the body,

148 BIRD NAMES. [No. 42.

and showing broadly in the vicinity of lower belly. Bill black.
Legs gray.

Length about ten and a quarter inches ; extent fifteen to six-
teen inches.

Female. Resembling male in general appearance, but a little
smaller ; throat-patch and line over eye yellowish brown or buff
(instead of white) ; marking beneath throat-patch much less dark ;
reddish brown of head lighter ; under parts of body less broken
by markings. Bill blackish, with lower part at base flesh-colored.

BOB-WHITE, so termed in imitation of its whistle, and the
species is perhaps more widely recognized by this name than by
any other, and though the name has been generally regarded as
belonging rather to the pet-name or nickname order, it is now
dignified by the endorsement of the American Ornithologists'
Union, in its Code and Check List, 1886. There are several
other imitations (regarded by none as names), like " no more
wet," " more wet," " more wheat," " buck-wTheat," etc.

Other titles copied from early and late authors are VIR-
GINIAN PARTRIDGE, MARYLAND PARTRIDGE, AMERICAN
PARTRIDGE, COMMON AMERICAN PARTRIDGE, VIRGINIAN
QUAIL, MARYLAND QUAIL, AMERICAN QUAIL, VIRGINIAN
COLIN, AMERICAN COLIN: the word "colin" being a Mexican
name (for birds of the " quail-partridge " kind) brought to the
notice of European naturalists by the work of Hernandez on the
Natural History of Mexico, 1628, best known by edition of 1651.

Just how far north this bird is found in the West I cannot
say, but in New England it is seldom seen as far north as
Maine. From these northern limits to as far south as New
Jersey it is the QUAIL, and in Southern States the PARTRIDGE
(see No. 41). "Frank Forester" (Herbert) covered the ground
as follows : " Where the ruffed grouse [No. 41] is called a part-
ridge, the bird of which we are now speaking [No. 42] is called
a quail . . . where the ruffed grouse is called the pheasant, our
bird becomes the partridge." — American edition of Hawker,
1846. To this rule there are now numerous exceptions. In
New Jersey, for instance, in many places where No. 42 is called

No. 42.] BIRD NAMES. 1^9

Quail, No. 41 is Pheasant, and, whether for better or for worse,
the name Quail is growing more and more widely into fashion
and favor. Southern pot-hunters, as well as sportsmen, in-
stantly recognize No. 42 as the " quail " in numerous localities
where, in former years, the name would as soon have been as-
sociated with a buzzard as a bob -white. In a communication
from Memphis to Forest and Stream, October 1, 1885, concern-
ing this bird's nomenclature, the writer, " Coahoma," says : " I
never heard the term * quail ' applied to it until after the war,
when a large influx of Northern sportsmen brought the name
with them. Some Southern sportsmen, rather of the 'dude'
order, have come to affect that name, but it is generally re-
garded as an innovation."

Captain John Smith certainly thought this bird looked more
like a partridge than a quail, for he says, in his description of
Virginia, 1612, "Patrridges there are little bigger than our
Quailes" (the "quailes" to which he referred being European,
of course).

A variety found in Florida is now distinguished in the
books as " Florida Bob- white" (Colinus virginianus floridanus).
It is a little smaller than No. 42, with general plumage some-
what darker, and black markings of under parts broader. It
is unnecessary to mention in this work the other representa-
tives of the genus, such as the " Cuban Bob-white," " Texan
Bob-white," etc.
10*

No. 43.

Philohela minor.

Prevailing tint of plumage tan color, variegated above with
black and gray, and nearly plain below ; tail-feathers tipped on
under side with white ; bill and legs grayish flesh color, the
former becoming black at end ; eyes black, situated high, and
far back. Sexes alike, but female the larger.

Length ten and a half to twelve inches; extent sixteen to
eighteen inches; length of bill about two and three quarter
inches ; weight five and a half to nine ounces.

Western range of this favorite of Eastern sportsmen, accord-
ing to A. O. U. Check List, 1886, " to Dakota, Kansas, etc."

No. 43.] BIRD NAMES. 151

Dr. Coues says : " This is the game bird, after all, say what
you please of Snipe, Quail, or Grouse." Yes, Doctor, either in
the field or on toast.

AMERICAN WOODCOCK: this (its correct name) distinguishing
it from the European woodcock, Scolopax rusticola. It has been
likewise termed LITTLE WOODCOCK and LESSER WOODCOCK, be-
ing considerably smaller than the Old World species.

In Bartram's Travels through North and South Carolina,
etc., 1791, GREAT RED WOODCOCK. (See "little woodcock" ap-
plied to No. 44.)

Though known very generally as WOODCOCK in populous
regions, we should bear in mind that this name is applied by
backwoodsmen and other country-folk to the Pileated Wood-
pecker— Ceophlceus pileatus — wherever that big red-crested bird
of the tall timber is found. Many funny stories are told of
sportsmen being led far into the woods by promises of good
" woodcock " shooting, only to find at the end of their journey
that woodpeckers were the birds referred to.

It may be added that the popularization of the name " wood-
cock" for No. 43 is quite a modern accomplishment. Almost
any old man that you may ask concerning the truth of this
statement will tell you that he never associated the name with
species now in hand during his boyhood. Many old people will
tell you that as children they knew this bird by the name of
SNIPE. Not merely as a snipe, be it understood, but as the
snipe, and our woodcock is the " snipe " still, in rural districts
far too numerous to mention, the species being commonly re-
ferred to collectively as "snipes" in these localities. See our
true snipe, the snipe of most city people, sportsmen, and market-
gunners, No. 44.

In an article entitled Woodcock Shooting, in Cabinet of Nat.
Hist., Vol. I., 1830, the author speaks of the present species as1
called BIG SNIPE, RED -BREASTED SNIPE (see No. 45), and
MUD SNIPE ; and " big snipe " is the popular appellation among
the crackers and negroe^ at Jacksonville, Fla., though many of
them recognize the bird by its name " woodcock."

152 BIRD NAMES. [No. 43.

Dr. Barton, in his Fragments of Nat. Hist, of Penn., 1799,
mentions the species as the COMMON SNIPE, as well as " wood-
cock ;" and Frank Forester gives BIG-HEADED SNIPE and BLIND
SNIPE as two of the names by which " country folks " know it.*
The latter name is also mentioned by De Kay (1844) as used " in
some parts " of New York State, and Mr. George A. Boardman
tells me of hearing the bird so termed in the vicinity of Calais,
Me. For the sake of those who are wondering why this bird
should have been called " blind," I will state that in spite of
its large handsome eyes, its sight is noticeably dull in the full
sunlight.

Hallock, in his Sportsman's Gazetteer (1879), credits the
species with WOOD SNIPE, f and Dr. William Jarvis writes of
bearing it termed WHISTLING SNIPE and MUD HEN some ten
years ago at Cornish, N. H. (For name " mud-hen " as applied
to other birds, see Nos. 32, 33, 35, 36.)

Audubon speaks of its being known in New Brunswick as
BOG-SUCKER. Frank Forester, in Warwick Woodlands and else-
where, frequently refers to it as the TIMBER-DOODLE, and in
Lewis's American Sportsman it is credited with the names
MARSH PLOVER (see No. 51) and WOOD HEN ; the author adding
that the latter title " is not often applied."

"Homo" (the late C. S. Westcott) says, in an article on
Autumn Woodcock Shooting, Forest and Stream, Jan. 22, 1874,
" In the counties of Carbon and Lehigh, of Pennsylvania, capital
grounds for autumn cock-shooting can be found in the neighbor-
hood of Easton, Mauch Chunk and Lehighton, and I may state
here that it is useless to inquire of the natives of these parts
of the whereabouts of woodcock; very few know it by that
name. I have heard it called SHRUPS and BOG BIRD by some."
The term COCK used by "Homo," though heard in some lo-

* Graham's Magazine, December, 1843, "A Day in the Woods."
f Since quoting the above name from Mr. Hallock, a friend writes me that
he pointed out a stuffed woodcock to a colored servant from Loudoun County,
Va., and asked him if he knew what it was, and that the man immediately re-
plied that it was what they called Wood Snipe in his part of the country.

No. 43.] BIRD NAMES. 153

calities, is oftener met with in print (the expression "cocking"
meaning woodcock-shooting sometimes, as well as rooster-fight-
ing). I only remember hearing the name " cock " popularly ap-
plied to the species in hand at Detroit ; the gunners and market-
men there use it quite commonly.

At Pocomoke City (Worcester Co.), Md., and Eastville
(Northampton Co.), Ya., NIGHT PARTRIDGE ; in the first-named
locality, however, it is more commonly termed the HOOKUM-
PAKE ; the latter name being imitative of its notes, or those
notes uttered immediately after its well-known spiral flight, the
imitation being more intelligible if written as follows : hookum,
- hookum, — - p-a-k-e.

To the darkies about Matthews Court House, Ya., MOUN-
TAIN PARTRIDGE, and though we commonly associate wood-
cock with bogs and low-lying land, we must not forget the good
shooting we have sometimes had higher up, nor the fact that
many of these birds retire for a time to the hill-tops each year.
In this connection the following from Mr. George B. Bennett's
Birds of Western North Carolina is interesting (Auk, July,
1887). He writes : " I saw a pair of these birds on the summit
of Roan in a clump of balsams ; the overflow from numerous
springs which had their sources at this spot formed an open
adjoining marsh of several acres ; altitude fully six thousand
feet. One or two pairs have been known to breed here every
year."

Dr. G. B. Grinnell, in Century Company's Sport with Eod
and Gun, tells us that the woodcock is known to some in the
seaboard counties of Virginia as Night Partridge (a name al-
ready recorded), and also as PEWEE, and in portions of North
Carolina as the NIGHT PECK.

In an article on woodcock in Minot's Land and Game Birds of
NCAV England, 1877, the writer says : " Every sportsman is famil-
iar with those very small, wiry, compactly feathered, weather-
tanned birds who appear in October, and who are called, per-
haps locally, ' Labrador Twisters.' " The birds referred to are
probably those that when once disturbed and not immediately
brought to bag, whirl away with surprising velocity upon a

154: BIRD NAMES. [No. 43.

flight often too long to follow. Some old gunners believe that
these " whistlers," or " little whistlers," as they are called in
western Massachusetts and portions of Connecticut, are late
birds from the far North, and that their appearance is always
indicative of the end of the season's flight-shooting ; while others
claim that our fall shooting is as apt to close with large birds as
with small ones, and that these very quick little fellows are old
male " ground-keepers " (native stock). I incline myself to the
latter theory, and will add that as these home birds are not
fatigued by a journey from the North, they are naturally in
good condition for rapid and protracted flight, and for a suc-
cessful one, knowing well the ins and outs of home swamps
and hillsides.

In many localities remote from bird-dogs and city influences
the woodcock, though present perhaps in goodly number, has no
name at all, is never pursued, and when accidentally flushed is
regarded with little interest, or as a quagmire creature unfit for
the food of man.

No. 44.
G-allinago delicata.

Upper parts chiefly dark brown and yellowish tan, the tan
color of tail more reddish; the markings forming lengthwise
stripes along the back (while wings are closed), and striping the
upper part of head ; chin and cheeks whitish ; neck near head
brown and pale tan, the colors of the upper parts shading here
completely around ; breast, sides of body, thighs, and lining of

No. 44.

wings, white and gray, principally in fine bars ; the belly white
with a few touches of gray. Bill averaging about two and a
half inches, and slightly flattened and spread nea.r the tip, this
flattened portion, in dried specimens, looking and feeling very
much like a fine file ; color of bill greenish gray near base, and
blackish at the end. Legs light greenish gray.

156 BIRD NAMES. [No. 44.

Length ten and a half inches ; extent about seventeen to
eighteen inches.

A freshly killed bird now in hand weighs a little over four
ounces, and its bill measures along the top a trifle less than two
and three quarter inches.

WILSON'S SNIPE: AMERICAN SNIPE: COMMON SNIPE: SNIPE
(see No. 43): mentioned in Bartram's Travels through North
and South Carolina, etc., 1791, and in Barton's Fragments of the
Natural History of Pennsylvania, 1799, as MEADOW-SNIPE (see
No. 51) ; the latter author calling it also LITTLE WOODCOCK.*

This favorite of our sportsmen and epicures is found through-
out the United States. Its name ENGLISH SNIPE (the bird was
regarded up to the time of Wilson as identical with European
species) and that of JACK SNIPE (see Nos. 46, 51) I have not
assigned to individual localities with any thoroughness, as both
these names are so widely and popularly applied to it. A few
scattering memoranda found among my notes are as follows :
Known as English Snipe in Maine at Bangor, Bath, and Pine
Point, in Massachusetts at Plymouth and Barnstable, in Con-
necticut at Stonington and Stony Creek, on Long Island at
Moriches and Seaford, and in Florida at Enterprise and Sanford.
Known as Jack Snipe at Portsmouth, N. H., in Massachusetts at
Kowley and Salem, in Illinois at Chicago and in Putnam County,
at Havre de Grace, Md., Washington, D. C., Alexandria, Ya., and
in Florida at Enterprise and Sanford (the two titles being about
equally popular in the last two localities).

In New Jersey at Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), Atlantic City,
and Somers Point, BOG SNIPE, and at Crisfield, Md., MARSH
SNIPE.

* At least there is no doubt in my own mind that Wilson's Snipe was
the one referred to. Bartram mentions ll Scolopax Americana rufa, great red
woodcock," following it immediately with " S. minor arvensis, the meadow
snipe." Barton gives " Scolopax minor (G), little wood-cock (meadow-snipe),"
and again " Scolopax minor, Scolopax minor arvensis of Bartram, Pi-si-co-lis ?
of the Delaware Indians." In Zeisberger's Delaware Indian Spelling Book,
1776, we read, " Me me u—& Woodcock," and " Pi si co Us— a. Snipe."

No. 44.] BIRD NAMES. 157

Nuttall (1834) speaks of its being known in the vicinity of
Cambridge, Mass., as the ALEWIFE BIRD, " from its arrival with
the shoals of that fish;" and Dr. Grinnell writes, in Century
Magazine of October, 1883 : " Few of our birds are so poor in
local names as this one, for it is almost everywhere known either
as the ' English ' or the ' jack ' snipe. Along the New England
coast, however, it has an appellation which is rather curious.
As the bird arrives about the same time as the shad, and is
found on the meadows along the rivers where the nets are
hauled, the fishermen when drawing their seines at night often
start it from its moist resting-place, and hear its sharp cry as it
flies away through the darkness. They do not know the cause
of the sound, and from the association they have dubbed its
author the SHAD SPIRIT." Another and similar name associ-
ating this bird with the coming of the fish, is found in the fol-
lowing quotation from Krider's Sporting Anecdotes : " We have
long noticed that when the nights are cool, with high Avinds
from the northwest, towards the latter end of March, very few
birds are to be found on the marshes. The prevalence of south-
erly winds and a hazy sky, with drizzling rain, is much more
favorable to their migration northward. The same remark holds
good in reference to the appearance of shad in the Delaware.
Indeed, snipe are called SHAD-BIRDS by many of the fishermen,
and the abundance or scarcity of the one is considered highly
indicative of that of the other."

Mr. Kidgway tells me that the species is very commonly
called GUTTER SNIPE in the southeastern part of Illinois, and
he so terms it in his catalogue of the birds of Illinois, 1874.

In Wood's New England's Prospect, 1634, " snites " are men-
tioned among other birds, but we can only guess at the species
referred to. Halliwell gives this old Anglo-Saxon name as
"still in use" in parts of England in 1847, and in Drayton's
Owl, 1604, we read of " the witless woodcock, and his neighbour
snite," and in Baret's Alveary, 1580, "a snipe or snite, a bird
lesse than a woodcocke."

The " simpes " mentioned in Morton's New English Canaan,
1637, perhaps meant snipe, but I cannot speak more confidently,

158 BIRD NAMES. [No. 44.

as some have done, in regard to the matter. Josselyn, in his
Voyages to New England, 1674, speaks of " widgeons, simps,
teal," etc. If " simpes " and ." simps " are synonymous, one can
easily believe them to be of the duck kind, from the manner in
which the latter author includes them.

No. 45.
Macrorhamphus griseus.

Adult in summer. Upper parts of body plumage (as viewed
with wings closed) blackish brown, light cinnamon brown, and
yellowish white, the latter tint paling to purer white here and
there ; shaft of longest wing-feather, and the lower back, white,
the latter becoming mottled towards the tail; the tail itself

barred with blackish brown, light tan, and white ; top of head
and streak along line of eye dark (blackish brown predominat-
ing) ; sides of head and neck, and the under parts of plumage,
light cinnamon brown, or buff, mottled with black ; this black ap-
pearing more in the form of bars along the flanks and beneath
the tail, where the feathers are bordered and otherwise marked

ICO 'BIRD NAMES. [No. 45.

with white. Bill greenish black, lighter at the base, and thor-
oughly snipe -like (the end being flattened and having little
inequalities much as in No. 44). Legs and feet dull yellowish
green, the outer and middle toes connected at base by a small,
though noticeable, membrane.

Winter plumage. Light gray, nearly plain about the head,
neck, and fore part of body ; wings and shoulder feathers va-
riegated with grayish brown and edgings of yellowish white ;
lower back white ; the sides of head whitish, with a dusky line
from bill through the eye ; region about flanks and back of the
thighs white ; bill, legs, and feet as in summer.

Measurements about as follows : length ten and a quarter to
eleven inches ; extent seventeen and a half to nineteen inches ;
bill two and a quarter to two and five eighths inches.

Eange, as given in A. O. U. Check List : " Eastern North
America, breeding far north,"

RED-BREASTED SNIPE (commonly so termed in the books ;
see Western Red-breasted Snipe, No. 46, found East occasion-
ally): GRAY SNIPE: BROWN SNIPE: NEW YORK GODWIT of
Swainson and Richardson, 1831.

In Maine at Portland and Pine Point, at Portsmouth, N. H.,
in Massachusetts at Salem, Provincetown, and West Barnstable,
in New Jersey at Barnegat and Tuckerton, and on Hog Island,
Ya., BROWN-BACK ; and Giraud mentions this name as common
at Egg Harbor, N. J., 1844 (see No. 51). In Massachusetts at
Salem, Rowley, Ipswich, in the vicinity of Boston, and at Chat-
ham, and in Connecticut at Lyme and Saybrook, ROBIN-SNIPE
(see No. 52). At North Plymouth, Mass., DRIVER. At Stratford,
Conn., and Seaford (Hempstead), L. I., DOWITCHER ; on Long
Island at Shinnecock Bay, Moriches, and Bellport, and at Barne-
gat, N. J., DOWITCH (see No. 51). These names Dowitch and
Dowitcher meant originally that this was the Dutch, or German,
snipe (Duitsch, Deutscher), and were probably employed to dis-
tinguish No. 45 particularly from the "English" snipe, No. 44.
Giraud says, in his Birds of Long Island, 1844 : " Our gunners,
as if fearful that nothing would be left to connect the past with

No. 45.] BIRD NAMES. 161

the present generation, cling to the old provincial names for birds,
recognizing this species by the singular and unmeaning name of
' Dowitcher.' " It is interesting to note in this connection that
the name Dowitcher is the one lately adopted by the American
Ornithologists' Union, in their Code of Nomenclature and Check
List. The name has been also written Dowitchee and Doe-
witch. Giraud mentions also the name QUAIL SNIPE as used
" in some sections of the Island ;" and Colonel J. H. Powell, of
Newport, K. I., writes (1885) of hearing it called GERMAN SNIPE
on Long Island " some twenty-five years ago."

In New Jersey at Manasquan, Atlantic City, Somers Point,
Cape May C. H., and Cape May City, in Virginia at Eastville,
and Cobb's Island, GRAY-BACK (see No. 52); more commonly
termed, however, at Cape May City, SEA -PIGEON. (It is
scarcely necessary to mention that the latter is a guillemot
name, as guillemots are not liable to be confused with birds that
interest gunners and sportsmen.)
11

No. 46.
Macrorkamplms scolopaceus.

Very similar to No. 45 (one picture answering well for both),
but the cinnamon brown or reddish tint of the summer plu-
mage, covering — and more uniformly — the entire lower parts.
Winter dress as in No. 45.

Length eleven to twelve inches ; extent eighteen to twenty
inches ; bill two and a quarter to three inches.

Kange, as given in A. O. U. Check List : " Mississippi Valley
and Western Province of North America, from Mexico to Alaska.
Less common but of regular occurrence along the Atlantic coast
of the United States."

WESTERN RED-BREASTED SNIPE: GREATER GRAY-BACK:
GREATER LONG-BEAK: LONG-BILLED SNIPE: RED-BELLIED
SNIPE: LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER: WESTERN DOWITCHER.

Not being popularly recognized as distinct from the common
Eastern variety No. 45, it naturally receives the latter's com-
mon names.

Mr. N. T. Lawrence says : " The gunners in the vicinity of
Rockaway, L. I., make a distinction between the two birds, call-
ing M. scolopaceus the WHITE-TAIL DOWITCHER."— Bull. Nutt.
Ornith. Club, July, 1880.

In the markets of Los Angeles, according to Dr. Cooper,
JACK SNIPE (see Nos. 44, 51).

No. 47.

Symphemia semipalmata.

Adult in summer. Wings broadly marked with, white and
blackish brown, the white being on inner portions of the quill-
feathers, and presenting (while wings are spread) a very con-
spicuous band across them ; extreme lower part of back at base

of tail white ; tail pale gray, more or less touched with dusky
bar-like markings. Plumage in general light warm gray, mot-
tled and shaded, with brown and pale tan tints ; the markings
streaky about head and neck, spotty on the fore-breast, and in

164 BIRD NAMES. [No. 47.

narrow, acutely waved bars upon the sides ; markings much
less numerous on the lower parts, leaving belly nearly white.
Bill dark, paler towards base. Legs and feet dull gray, nails
black.

Winter plumage. Upper parts chiefly pale warm gray nearly
or quite free from markings ; under parts wholly white, with the
exception of some grayish shading on the lower neck ; tail very
pale, with white around its base. Wings, bill, and feet about as
in summer.

Length fifteen and a half to sixteen and a half inches ; ex-
tent twenty-seven to thirty inches. Bill two and one eighth to
two and five eighths inches ; toes with noticeable webs between
them.

Range : " Temperate North America, south to the West
Indies and Brazil" (A. O. U. Check List, 1886).

SEMIPALMATED TATTLER: SEMIPALMATED SNIPE.

On the coast of Maine this bird is too infrequently met with
to be familiar to the gunners, and, indeed, the species does not
occur abundantly anywhere in New England. We soon begin
to find it common, however, as we move southward.

In Massachusetts at Rowley, Ipswich, Salem, Boston mar-
kets, North Scituate, Provincetown, North Plymouth, West
Barnstable, Chatham, and New Bedford, HUMILITY* (see Nos.
48, 50); and Mr. Raymond L. Newcomb tells me of hearing it
also called, at Salem, the PIED-WINGED CURLEW.

At Chatham, Mass, (to some of the gunners at least), at New-
port, R. L, and southward along the entire Eastern coast, WILLET,
though in Florida it is occasionally termed the BILL -WILLIE.
In Lawson's Carolina, 1709, WILL- WILLET; elsewhere in print,

* On the Massachusetts coast this bird is sometimes confused with the
Hudsonian Godwit, No. 61; I have heard, for example, the Godwit called
" Humility," and a gentleman tells me of a Willet (No. 47) being sent him from
Chatham, labelled with the Godwit's name " Goose-bird." As these occur-
rences, however, are simply mistakes, no further reference to them need be
made. That gunners note a resemblance between the two species is instanced
by the New Jersey name of " Carolina Willet " for the Godwit.

No. 47.] BIRD NAMES. 165

PILL-WILLET;* in Linsley's Birds of Connecticut, 1843, PILL-
WILL -WILLET. (These last five names being imitative of the
bird's shrill cries).

Audubon wrote of it as follows : " In the Middle States the
Semipalmated Snipe is known to every fisherman-gunner bv the
name ' Willet,' and from the Carolinas southward by that of
' STONE CURLEW.' " Bryant, in his Birds of the Bahamas, 1859,
speaks of its being known to the inhabitants as DUCK -SNIPE;
and March says, in Birds of Jamaica, 1863-64, " Known here as
the SPANISH PLOVER."

Mr. William Brewster writes, in the Auk of April, 1887, that
Mr. J. M. Southwick has called his attention to the fact that
Western specimens of the Willet differ from those of the At-
lantic coast. The Western Willet, Symphemia semipalmata in-
ornata, as Mr. Brewster terms it, differs from £ semipalmata in
being a little larger, with " longer, slenderer bill ;" and (in breed-
ing dress) having the dark markings above " fewer, finer, and
fainter," on a much paler ground, and those beneath duller, more
confused, " and bordered by pinkish-salmon " which often " suf-
fuses the entire under parts excepting the abdomen." In the
winter dress the two forms " appear to be distinguishable only
by size." Range (of Western variety) : " Interior of North
America between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains,
wintering along the coasts of the Gulf and Southern Atlantic
States (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina)."

* Mr. Dresser (cited by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway) speaks of this name
"Pill-willet" being applied by his boatman in Galveston Bay to the American
Oyster-catcher — a bird seldom found north of New Jersey, and one which may
be briefly described as follows, for the benefit of those who do not know it :
Head and neck black ; upper parts of body brown ; under parts white ; a white
bar on the wing; and a red bill shaped for opening shell-fish. Again, in Bar-
tram's Travels, 1791, we read of "the Will-willet or Oyster - catcher," and
Audubon wrote of No. 47, "Its movements on wing greatly resemble those of
the Oyster-catcher."
11*

No. 48.
Totanus melanoleucus.

Head and neck streakily marked with dusky gray and white,
the throat nearly plain white ; back and wings pale brown and
blackish brown speckled with white and dull white, the colors of
tail similar but forming bars ; feathering just above tail white

No. 48.

barred with grayish brown. Under parts including lining of
wings principally white, wavily and brokenly barred with gray-
ish brown, the belly and neighborhood of tail nearly plain white.
Bill blackish, two to two and a quarter inches long. Legs bright
yellow.

No. 48.] BIRD NAMES. 167

Length thirteen to fourteen inches ; extent twenty-three to
twenty-five inches.

Found during its migrations throughout the country ; flesh
delicious in the fall, far better at this time than in spring.

GREATER YELLOW -LEGS: GREATER YELLOW - SHANKS :
GREATER TELLTALE: TELLTALE: TELLTALE SNIPE: TELL-
TALE GODWIT: TELLTALE TATTLER: VARIED TATTLER: LONG-
LEGGED TATTLER: YELPER: YELLOW-SHANKS PLOVER.

Compare above names with those beginning list No. 49.

Wilson says (1813) of this bird and No. 49 : " Well known
to our duck-gunners along the sea-coast and marshes, by whom
they are detested, and stigmatized with the names of the greater
and lesser telltale, for their faithful vigilance in alarming the
ducks with their loud and shrill whistle on the first glimpse
of the gunner's approach." These birds are equally noisy and
vigilant, however, when the ducks are absent, and they care very
little about the welfare of other species than their own.

Called also STONE SNIPE, and in a communication to Forest
and Stream of June 13, 1878, from Lebanon, Illinois, STONE BIRD.

In Maine at Eastport, Machiasport, Jonesport, Millbridge, and
vicinity of Frenchman's Bay, Nos. 48 and 49 are both known as
YELLOW-LEG or YELLOW-LEGGED PLOVER. At Machiasport,
however, I am told by Captain James Robinson, the best -in-
formed and one of the oldest gunners there, that many people
in his locality apply the name PLOVER to this the larger species
only, permitting the smaller one (No. 49) to monopolize that of
Yellow-leg.

Audubon speaks of its being known in Maine as the HUMILITY
(see Nos. 47, 50), adding that this is " an appellation that ill ac-
cords with its vociferous habits." In 1885 I made many inquiries
in various parts of the state for this old name, but found only
one man who remembered hearing it so applied, viz., the aged
gunner Samuel Foote, residing near Bath, who referred to it as
an appellation more or less common for the species during his
youth, but very seldom, or never, heard now.

In Maine at Portland and Pine Point, in Massachusetts at

168 BIRD NAMES. [No. 48.

Kowley, Ipswich, Salem, North Scituate, Provincetown, North
Plymouth, West Barnstable, and to some at Newport, K. L, WIN-
TEE (though originally an abbreviation of " Winter Yellow-leg,"
this is now a well-established title by itself).

At Portsmouth, N. H., in Massachusetts at North Scituate,
Fairhaven, New Bedford, and Falmouth, and at Shinnecock Bay,
L. I., WINTER YELLOW-LEG ; and at Stonington, Conn., HORSE
YELLOW-LEG.

At Salem, Mass., the larger birds of the species have long
been distinguished from the others under the name of TURKEY-
BACK ; some of the gunners there believing these biggest of
" big " yellow-legs a separate variety.

I have spoken of the name " Winter " as used " by some " at
Newport ; the bird is commonly called there the BIG YELLOW-
LEG ; and this, it may be added, is the name by which the bird
is best known throughout the country.

In Mr. Browne's list of " gunners' names," at Plymouth Bay
(Forest and Stream, November 9, 18T6), LARGE CUCU; and a cor-
respondent (" Cohannet ") in the same newspaper, December 2,
1886, speaks of its being known as CU-CU on the south shore of
Cape Cod.

In New Jersey at Dennisville, Cape May C. II., and Cape
May City, KILL-CU ; this name being used by many of the gun-
ners for No. 49 as well. At Barnegat it is the Large or Big
Yellow-leg, though we hear the old name Telltale there occa-
sionally, and perhaps more often at Tuckerton and Atlantic City.
Generally termed in last two localities BIG YELLOW-LEGGED
PLOVER.

At Eastville (Northampton Co.), Ya., YELLOW- SHINS, for
both this bird and No. 49.

No. 49.
Totanus flavipes.

Form, colors, and markings practically like No. 48 (the picture
of the latter bird will do for both) ; its range also similar.

Length ten to eleven inches ; extent about twenty inches ;
bill one and a half inches.

YELLOW-LEGS : COMMON YELLOW-LEGS : LESSER YELLOW-
SHANKS : YELLOW-SHANKS SNIPE: YELLOW-SHANKS PLOVER:
YELLOW-LEGGED GODWIT (so termed by J. Sabine, Appendix to
Franklin's Journal, 1823) : YELLOW-SHANKS TATTLER : TELL-
TALE.

Compare above names with those beginning list No. 48.

In Maine at Eastport, Machiasport, Jonesport, Millbridge,
and vicinity of Frenchman's Bay, YELLOW-LEG and YELLOW-
LEGGED PLOVER (see No. 48) ; and in the vicinity of Henniker,
N. H., PLOVER simply.

At Portland and Pine Point, Me., in Massachusetts at Kow-
ley, Ipswich, Salem, North Scituate, Provincetown, North Plym-
outh, West Barnstable, and by some at Newport, E. I., SUMMER ;
the full name SUMMER YELLOW-LEG being commonly employed
at Portsmouth, N. H., and in Massachusetts at Fairhaven, New
Bedford, and Falmouth ; often heard at North Scituate, and gen-
erally used at Shinnecock Bay, L. I.

At Plymouth Bay, according to Browne's list. 1876, SMALL
CUCU ; at Newport, LITTLE YELLOW-LEG— a name by which
the bird is widely known throughout the country.

Though commonly known at Barnegat, N. J., as Little or
Small Yellow-leg, the old name Telltale is heard occasionally,
and we hear this latter title still more often perhaps at Tucker-

170 B1RD NAMES. [No. 49.

ton and Atlantic City, the bird being commonly distinguished,
however, in these last two localities as SMALL YELLOW-LEGGED
PLOVER.

Again in New Jersey at Dennisville, Cape May C. H., and
Cape May City, KILL-CU; this name being loosely applied to
Nos. 48 and 49, though used by some at Cape May City for No.
48 only.

At^EastviUe, Ya., YELLOW-SHINS for both Nos. 48 and 49.

No. 50.
Bartramia longicauda.

Above, a mixture of blackish browns, the feathers edged with
slightly reddish or rusty white ; neck lighter, a yellowish brown
with dusky streaks ; sides of head light also ; top of head dark
brown ; arrow-head markings about front of breast and lower

neck ; throat and belly white with buff tints ; inner surface of
wings prettily barred gray and white ; tail, a mixture of yellow-
ish brown and white speckled and blotched with black. Legs
light gray tinged with greenish yellow. Bill black above and
at tip, the remainder bright yellow.

172 BIRD NAMES. [No. 50.

Measurements (derived from seven freshly killed birds) :
length eleven and a quarter to twelve and a quarter inches ;
extent twenty-one and three eighths to twenty-two and one
eighth inches ; bill, measured along its top, about one and three
sixteenths inches.

BARTRAM'S SANDPIPER: BARTRAM'S TATTLER: UPLAND
SANDPIPER: BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER: BARTRAMIAN TAT-
TLER: BARTRAM'S HIGHLAND SNIPE.* Wilson says, Vol. VII. ,
1813 : " This bird being, as far as I can discover, a new species,
undescribed by any former author, I have honored it with the
name of my very worthy friend [William Bartram], near whose
botanic gardens, on the banks of the river Schuylkill, I first
found it."

This is proverbially a difficult bird to approach ; is found
throughout the country east of the Rocky Mountains, and is
a great favorite among sportsmen and epicures.

In Maine at Bangor, Rockland, Bath, Portland, and Pine
Point, at Portsmouth, N. H., in Massachusetts at Ipswich, Prov-
incetown, and West Barnstable, UPLAND PLOVER.

Concerning its book-name, Bartram's Sandpiper, Mr. E. E. T.
Seton, of Manitoba, says in an article on popular names of birds
(Auk, July, 1885) : " Ever since Wilson's time this name has been
continually thrust into the face of the public, only to be as con-
tinually rejected ; Upland Plover it continues to be in the East,
and QUAILY on the Assiniboine."

At Bangor, Me., and in New Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton,
and Cape May C. H., FIELD PLOVER ; and Dr. Wheaton writes
in a report of the birds of Ohio (Columbus, 1879) : " Field Plover,
as it is commonly termed with us."

At Bath and Portland, Me., HIGHLAND PLOVER ; at Ports-
mouth, K II., and Salem, Mass., PASTURE PLOVER ; at Prov-
incetown, UPLANDER; in Maynard's Birds of Eastern Massa-
chusetts, HILL BIRD ; at New Bedford, Mass., Newport, R. I.,

* So termed by Dr. Woodhouse, Sitgreaves' Expedition, Zuui and Colorado
Rivers, 1853.

No. 50.] BIRD NAMES. 173

and Stonington, Conn., and to some at Shinnecock Bay, L. I.,
GRASS PLOVER ; on Long Island at Shinnecock Bay and Mo-
riches, HUMILITY (see Nos. 47, 48) ; at BeUport, GRAY PLOVER
(see No. 55) ; at Seaford (Hempstead), PLAIN PLOVER ; and we
hear CORN-FIELD PLOVER among other names at Washing-
ton, D. C.

Dr. Coues, in Birds of the Northwest (1874), speaks of the
species as very numerous during its migrations " in most parts
of the West between the Mississippi and the Kocky Mountains,"
and " commonly known as the PRAIRIE PIGEON " (see No. 56) ;
and we find the following in Water Birds of North America
(Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway) : " In Southern Wisconsin, Mr.
Kumlien informs me, in 1851 this bird, then very common there,
was known as the PRAIRIE PLOVER, and also as the PRAIRIE
SNIPE." Mr. Seton, previously cited, calls it also Prairie Plover
(as well as Quaily) in his Birds of Western Manitoba, Auk, April,
1886.

At New Orleans, La., it is the PAPABOTE ; this is Audubon's
spelling of the name ; it is also written " Papabot " and " Papa-
botte."

Concerning the name Frost Bird, credited to the species by
Herbert, see No. 56.

No. 51.

Tringa maculata.

Bill practically straight, though with a very slight downward
curve, yellowish or dull yellowish olive at base, the remainder
black; the two central feathers of the tail projecting beyond the
others and more pointed ; the top of head dark, a brownish mixt-
ure; throat white; sides of head, neck all around, and breast
streakily grayish buff and dusky brown ; the sides of the head

having an indistinct whitish and a dusky stripe. Upper plumage
in general a mixture of light yellowish or reddish brown, with
dark or blackish brown and a few touches of white. Lower
parts (back of the breast-markings) white. Legs dull yellowish
olive.

Measurements about as follows : length eight and a quarter

No. 51.] BIRD NAMES. 175

to nine and a quarter inches ; extent sixteen to seventeen and a
half inches ; bill measured on top from feathers to tip one to
one and three sixteenths of an inch.

Eange wide, including during migrations all of North America ;
a good little bird for the table, and as a rule easily walked up to
and shot where it stands, neck drawn in as though asleep. It
will sometimes, however, mount into the air from concealment,
and whirl away upon a snipe-like flight that is not easily stopped.

PECTORAL SANDPIPER (so termed in the books) : JACK SNIPE
(see No. 44, to which this name is more generally applied^ alsTT
No. 46). As I have never happened to hear the latter title in
use for this species, I must quote others concerning it. In
Water Birds of North America (Baird, Brewer, and Eidgway)
we find the following : " Mr. Boardman informs me that this
species is quite common, both in the spring and in the fall, near
Calais, Me., where it is seen in company with the Common Snipe,
and where it feeds exclusively on the fresh-water marshes and
in the uplands. It is distinguished from the Common Snipe by
the name of the Jack Snipe." Mr. E. S. Bowler (Taxidermist),
of Bangor, tells me that this name is so used in his locality.
Giraud writes, 1844 : " Mr. Baird has informed me that it occurs
in Pennsylvania, in which section it has received the appellation
of ' jack snipe ;' " and in " Philadelphia Notes " to Forest and
Stream, October 1, 1885, « Homo" (the lataC. S. Westcott) says:
"A few flocks of creakers, jack snipe they call them here,
occupy the mud flats of the Delaware."

At Pine Point, Me., Portsmouth, N. H., in Massachusetts at
Eowley, Ipswich, Salem, North Scituate, Provincetown, Plym-
outh, West Barnstable, Chatham, New Bedford, and Falmouth,
GRASS-BIRD, and, infrequently, GRASS SNIPE. Known also to
some at Eowley and Ipswich as BROWN -BACK (see No. 45);
" X. Y. Z.," in Forest and Stream, November 18, 1886, speaks of
its being " generally called BROWNIE " in the vicinity of New-
buryport ; and Mr. F. C. Browne, in his list of gunners' names
at Plymouth Bay (Forest and Stream, November 9, 1876), gives
MARSH PLOVER (see No. 43).

176 BIRD NAMES. . [No. 51.

At Newport, K. I., on Long Island at Shinnecock Bay, Mo-
riches, and Bellport, and at Barnegat, X. J., KRIEKER. I write
this name as it is usually spelled. It was not applied, as popu-
larly believed, because of the bird's creaking note, but because
of its crouching or squatting habit — German Kriecher, a cring-
ing person.

Known "to some of the residents" of Long Island (Giraud
writes, 1844), as MEADOW SNIPE (see No. 44). At Essex, Conn.,
and mouth of Connecticut Kiver, DOWITCH (a name belonging to
the Ked- breasted Snipe, No. 45, and interpreted under that
head). In Connecticut at Milford, SQUAT-SNIPE ; at Stratford,
SQUATTER. At Seaford, L. L, SHORT-NECK. In New Jersey at
Tuckerton, PAT-BIRD ; at Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), Atlantic
City, and Cape May City, HAY-BIRD. Known also to some At-
lantic City gunners as TRIDDLER. At Alexandria, Ya., COW-
SNIPE.

In Water Birds of North America the name "Crouching
Shore-bird " is given as used at Trinidad. This (like Krieker or
Kriecher, Squatter, etc.), is an appropriate appellation, but a
translation, and a very free one it seems. Leotaud, in Oiseaux
de Vile de la Trinidad, 1866, gives under the head of T. macu-
lata, " Vulg. Couchante /" and Mr. Ridgway writes me that " this
appears to be the only basis of Dr. Brewer's statement."

No. 52.

Tringa camitus.

Adult in spring. Upper parts a mixture of light buff, gray,
black, dull brown, and grayish white ; the feathers near the
tail (upper tail coverts) barred with brownish black and white.
Under parts uniformly reddish buff or orange brown, sometimes

fading to white on the lower part of belly ; this reddish color
much like that on the breast of our common garden robin.

Adult in autumn. Above almost uniformly gray. Below
nearly white, having little or no robin color ; front of neck,
breast, and sides streakily freckled and otherwise flecked with
dusky.

Young. Upper parts gray, with crescent -like dusky and
12

178 BIRD NAMES. [No. 52.

whitish borderings to the feathers. Lower parts white or nearly
so, the breast sometimes tinged with buff. The neck and front
of body streakily flecked, the sides faintly and irregularly barred,
with dusky.

The different plumages of this species (" red," " ash-colored,"
and the variations between these) have caused some of its names
to appear as very contradictory.

Length ten and a half inches ; extent twenty inches or more ;
legs and bill nearly black, the latter one and three eighths to
one and a half inches long.

A very good bird for the table, and well known to most of
the world.

KNOT:* RED-BREASTED SANDPIPER: RED SANDPIPER: ASH-
COLORED SANDPIPER: FRECKLED SANDPIPER: GRISLED SAND-
PIPER. The last two titles are given (among other names) by
Latham, Syn., 1785. Giraud says, in his Birds of Long Island,
1844 : " Late in September it moves southward ; at this period
the lower plumage is white, spotted on the neck, breast, and
flanks with dusky ; the upper plumage ash gray ; in this dress it
is the WHITE ROBIN SNIPE of our gunners." Wilson says:
" The common name of this species on our sea-coast is the GRAY-
BACK" (see No. 45), and we tind the following in Audubon:
"My friend, John Bachman, states that this species is quite
abundant in South Carolina, in its autumn and spring migrations,
but that he has never seen it there in full plumage. 'In that
country it is called the MAY-BIRD, which, however, is a name
also given to the Rice-bird. Along the coasts of our Middle
District, it is usually known by the name Gray -back." In

* Canute, or Knut, king of Denmark and conqueror of England, was
forced to retreat— we are told— before the incoming tide (in a manner to
shame certain courtiers who claimed that the sea would obey him) even as
this big sandpiper is driven by the waves, in common with smaller birds. It
has been stated also, that this species was a great favorite with the old king—

" The Knot that called was Canutus' bird of old,
Of that great king of Danes his name that still doth hold,
His appetite to please that far and near was sought." — DRA.TTON.

No. 52.] BIRD NAMES. 179

March's Birds of Jamaica (1863-64), it is the WHITE-BELLIED
SNIPE.

At Pine Point, Me., and in Massachusetts at Boston markets,
North Scituate, Provincetown, Plymouth, and West Barnstable,
RED -BREAST PLOVER; in the above localities, and at Chatham,
Mass., in Atlantic County, N. J., and at Eastville, Va., RED-
BREAST. At Ipswich, Mass., BUFF-BREAST, BLUE PLOVER, and
SILVER-BACK. At Newport, K. I., on Long Island at Shinne-
cock Bay, Moriches, Bellport, and Seaford (Hempstead), in New
Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton, Pleasant ville (Atlantic Co.), and
Cape May City, and at Eastville, Va., ROBIN-SNIPE, this being
often shortened (particularly among the Long Island gunners) to
ROBIN. Again at Moriches, L. L, and at Morehead, K C., BEACH-
ROBIN ; at Manasquan, N. J., ROBIN-BREAST; and at Pleasant-
ville above mentioned, HORSE-FOOT SNIPE (see No. 54).
\

No. 53.
Tringa alpina pacifica.

Bill with slight downward bend ; the two central feathers
of the tail a little longer than the others and more pointed ; the
bill and legs black.

Summer plumage. Above cinnamon brown, or light reddish
brown, with elongated touches of black along the centres of the
feathers ; wings chiefly gray and dark brown, the feathers edged

No. 63. Summer Plumage. \

and otherwise marked with white ; sides of headl the neck, and
breast, grayish white streakily marked with dusky ; throat white ;
reddish tone of upper parts extending in greater or less degree
up back of neck and over crown. Belly with large black blotch ;
remaining under parts white.

Winter plumage. Above plain warm gray ; an indistinct

No. 53.] BIRD NAMES. 181

whitish streak along by the eye, from the upper part of the bill.
Under parts white (or very nearly so) excepting lower part of
neck and the fore breast, which are streakily grayish.

No. 63. Winter Plumage.

Length eight and a half inches ; extent fifteen inches.

The range of this species includes our whole country ; in the
fall it is numerous along the sea-coast, often collecting in very
large flocks. No apology is necessary for introducing it here ;
it has (notwithstanding its diminutive size) appeared many times
in lists of gunners' birds ; is plump and palatable in the autumn,
and affords some sport even to adults, when bigger birds are
absent. A record of its aliases may also prevent us from con-
fusing it with other species.

DUNLIN: more correctly AMERICAN DUNLIN (to distinguish it
from the European dunlin, T. alpina) : RED-BACKED SANDPIPER :
AMERICAN RED-BACKED SANDPIPER : BLACK-BELLIED SAND-
PIPER: BLACK-BREASTED SANDPIPER: PURRE (Pennant, 1785):
OX-BIRD (Nuttall, 1834).

Wilson (1813) speaks of its being known " along the shores
of New Jersey " as the RED-BACK ; and Mcllwraith, in Birds of
Ontario, 1886, mentions it as the "BLACK -HEART PLOVER of
sportsmen;" and again as BLACK-HEART simply, and we find
this latter form in E. E. T. Seton's Birds of Western Manitoba,
Auk, April, 1886. In Forest and Stream, Nov. 18, 1886, " X.Y. Z."
19*

182 BIRD NAMES. [No. 53.

(Kaymond L. Newcomb) tells of its being known in the vicinity
of Gloucester, Mass., as SIMPLETON ; and F. C. Browne gives
STIB in his list of gunners' names at Plymouth Bay (Forest and
Stream, Nov. 9, 1876).

At Pine Point, Me., Seaford, L. L, and Pleasantville (Atlan-
tic Co.), N. J., FALL SNIPE; in Massachusetts at Chatham,
CROOKED -BILLED SNIPE; at West Barnstable, CALIFORNIA-
PEEP ; at Newport, K. I., and in New Jersey at Tuckerton and
Atlantic City, WINTER SNIPE ;* at Stratford, Conn., and Shinne-
cock Bay, L. L, LITTLE BLACK-BREAST ; at Seaford, L. L, in
New Jersey at Tuckerton, Pleasantville, above mentioned, At-
lantic City, Cape May C. H., Cape May City, and Cobb's Island,
Va., BLACK-BREAST (see Nos. 55, 56) ; at Shinnecock Bay, LEAD-
BACK ; in New Jersey at Barnegat and Tuckerton, BRANT-
SNIPE ; and at Atlantic City, BRANT-BIRD (see Nos. 54, 60, 61).
The gunners of the last-named localities claim that this little
sandpiper is more closely associated than other birds with the
Brant (No. 3) ; is more often found with the latter species on
sandbars, sea-weed bunches, etc.

* This name is also applied to the Purple Sandpiper, Tringa maritima, a
bird which comes down from the North in cold weather, is never seen by us
before late autumn nor after the early spring, and whose appearance at this
time may be briefly described as follows : very dark brownish slate color,
showing purplish gloss in certain lights ; belly white ; length nine inches, or
thereabouts ; extent fifteen to sixteen inches ; bill about one and a quarter
inches, and nearly straight. Perhaps it would have been better to include
this sandpiper more formally in my list, but it is practically an unknown
bird to other of our gunners than those of New England (though occasion-
ally found on the Great Lakes and elsewhere). The isolated bits of rocky
coast which it inhabits are not inviting during wintry weather, and the bird
is fallen in with generally by accident, for gunners are not on the lookout
for shore-bird shooting at such times. Mr. George A. Boardman (cited by
Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway), states that T. maritima is the Winter-snipe at
Calais, Me. ; and Mr. William Brewster tells me of its being so termed at
Swamscott, Mass. I have heard it called Winter Rock-bird at Ash Point,
Me. (the gunners there usually finding it at Green Island, ten miles south-
ward); and it is the Rock -bird, Rock Plover, and Rock Snipe at Rowley
and Salem, Mass.

No. 53.] BIRD NAMES. 183

The great difference between the winter and summer dress
has caused much confusion, and the " Black -heart," "Black-
breast," etc., is very generally regarded as a species quite dis-
tinct from the " Winter-snipe," " Lead-back," etc.

No. 54.

Arenaria interpres.

Adult male. Head, neck, and breast broadly pied black and
white ; much of the upper plumage blotched conspicuously with
mahogany color and black; the back (under the overlaying
feathers of wings and shoulder region) white, with a blackish
patch upon the rump ; the tail, showing a blackish field, skirted

No. 54. Adult.

unevenly with white. Under parts white (from the black of the
breast backward), and a bar of white crossing wing. Bill nearly
black. Legs and toes rich orange red.

Adult female. Similar to adult male, but with the mahogany
color and black less positive.

No. 64.] BIRD NAMES. 185

Young. Without mahogany color or black ; upper parts un-
evenly marked instead with brown and yellowish gray; the
breast duskily mottled, or showing in a shadowy and imperfect
way the markings of the adult, the whole plumage having a
very commonplace and washed-out appearance, compared with
that of the full-dressed bird ; the bill less black ; the legs and
feet pale orange.

Length eight and a half to nine inches ; extent seventeen to
eighteen inches. Bill about seven eighths of an inch long.

A " nearly cosmopolitan " species, found chiefly along the
sea-coast, but met with also on the shores of large inland waters.

I have eaten this kind several times, but can now only re-
member my sensations upon one occasion. I tried them a year
or two ago on the Jersey coast, and though I was very hungry
at the time, they proved altogether too strong for me.

TURNSTONE (so called from its habit of turning over small
stones in search of food) : COMMON TURNSTONE (distinguish-
ing it from A. melanocephala of the Pacific coast, a similar
but blacker bird, without the mahogany color of this species) :
SEA DOTTEREL (Catesby) : HEBRIDAL SANDPIPER (Pennant,
and Hearne) : Hearne tells also of its being known at Hudson's
Bay as WHALE-BIRD, on account of its " feeding on the car-
casses of those animals," and he remarks concerning its flesh :
" They are usually very fat, but even when first killed they
smell and taste so much like train-oil as to render them by
no means pleasing to the palate" (Journey to Northern Ocean,
1769-72, published 1795).

Wilson says (1813) : " On the coast of Cape May and Egg
Harbor this bird is well known by the name of the HORSE-FOOT
SNIPE, from its living during the months of May and June
almost wholly on the eggs or spawn of the great king crab,
called here by the common people the horse-foot." I have made
many inquiries along " the coast of Cape May and Egg Har-
bor," but can nowhere find the latter name so applied (see
No. 52), yet in some out-of-the-way corner No. 54 may still be
the Horse-foot Snipe as it was in Wilson's time. I will add

186 BIRD NAMES. [No. 54.

that this "horse-foot" spawn is very greedily devoured by most
of our shore -birds. (See "Horse -foot Marlin" under Nos. 58
and 60.)

Giraud (1844) gives BEACH-BIRD as used at Egg Harbor to
designate the young ; and Mr. William Gaskill, the oldest and
perhaps best-informed gunner in the neighborhood of Tucker-
ton, N. J., tells me that he remembers this as a name formerly
used for the species, but not as confined to the young bird. It
is not a very distinctive title, and has been given to the King-
necked Plover — ^Egialitis semipalmata, Piping Plover — JE. me-
loda, Sanderling — Calidris arenaria, etc.

De Kay, in Zoology of New York, 1844, gives HEART-BIRD
as one of the names applied to the species by " our gunners, a
class of men who earn a livelihood by shooting birds." This
author was evidently afraid that we might confuse the gunner
with that helpless but interesting creature " the true sportsman."

In Hallock's Sportsman's Gazetteer, SAND-RUNNER.

In Maine at Portland and Pine Point, in Massachusetts at
Rowley, Ipswich, Salem, Boston markets, North Scituate, Prov-
incetown, West Barnstable, and Martha's Vineyard, CHICKEN-
PLOVER and CHICKEN-BIRD; at Chatham, CHICKEN simply;
and referred to in Forest and Stream of September' 4, 1873,
as CHICKLING. Again, in Massachusetts at New Bedford,
RED -LEGS, and Maynard gives RED-LEGGED PLOVER in his
Birds of Eastern Massachusetts ; at Falmouth, SPARKED-BACK,
STREAKED-BACK, and BISHOP PLOVER; at Nantucket, CRED-
DOCK. In Connecticut at Saybrook and Lyme, SEA QUAIL.
On Long Island at Shinnecock Bay, Moriches, Bellport, and Sea-
ford, BRANT -SNIPE and BRANT -BIRD (see Nos. 53, 60, 61);
again at Moriches, MAGGOT-SNIPE ; at Amity ville, JINNY. In
New Jersey at Manasquan, Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), Atlantic
City, throughout Cape May County, and in Virginia at Eastville,
CALICO-BACK. Again, in New Jersey at Cape May City, CALICO-
BIRD ; at Pleasantville, above mentioned, CALICO-JACKET ; at
Barnegat, CHECKERED-SNIPE; at Tuckerton, GANNET;* at Som-

* The true Gannets are large fish-devouring sea-fowl of the genus Sula.

No. 54.] BIRD NAMES. 187

ers Point, CHUCKATUCK ; and at St. Augustine, Fla. (to some na-
tive gunners at least), SALT-WATER PARTRIDGE.

Yarrell tells of its being known in Dorsetshire, England, a&
the VARIEGATED PLOVER ; and the following names appear
in Swainson's Provincial Names of British Birds, 1885 : STANE-
PECKER (Shetland Isles) : SKIRL CRAKE (East Lothian, Shet-
land Isles): TANGLE PICKER (Norfolk) — " tangle is a kind of
weed beset with small bladders" (Gwrney): STONE RAW (Ar-
magh) : SEA LARK (Ireland) — and in the same work under
Sanderling, C. arenaria, we find again " Sea Lark (Ireland)."

Our Common Gannet (S. lassana), known also as White Gannet, Solan Goose,
etc., measures about three feet in length. Under the head of Royal Tern
(Sterna maxima), in Notes on Birds found Breeding on Cobb's Island, "Va.
(Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, April, 1876), Mr. Bailey says, "called Gannets by the
natives;" and Audubon writes as follows concerning the Wood Ibis (Tantalus
loculator) : " The Spaniards of East Florida know them by the name of ' Gan-
nets.' ... At St. Augustine I was induced to take an excursion to visit a
large pond or lake, where I was assured there were Gannets in abundance,
which I might shoot off the trees provided I was careful enough. On asking
the appearance of the Gannets, I was told that they were large white birds,
with wings black at the end, a long neck, and a large sharp bill. The de-
scription so far agreeing with that of the Common Gannet or Solan Goose, I
proposed no questions respecting the legs or tail, but went off. Twenty-three
miles, reader, I trudged through the woods, and at last came in view of the
pond ; when lo ! its borders and the trees around it were covered with Wood
Ibises. Now, as the good people who gave the information spoke according
to their knowledge, and agreeably to their custom of calling the Ibises Gan-
nets, had I not gone to the pond I might have written this day that Gannets
are found in the interior of the woods in the Floridas, that they alight on trees,
etc., which if on.ce published, would in all probability have gone down to future
times through the medium of compilers, and all perhaps without acknowledg-
ment."

No. 55.
Charadrius squatarola.

Sometimes confused with the next species, but differing from
it in many ways. This is a four-toed plover, having a minute but
perfectly distinct hind toe (No. 56 being without this rudimen-
tary appendage). It is also larger, stockier, bigger billed, is a
less numerous and more timid species, with louder, fuller note,
and is found far more often on the sea-shore proper, upon sand-
bars, mud flats, and beaches.

No. 55. Breeding Plumage.

Adult in breeding dress. Upper part of head and back of
neck white, more or less marked with pale grayish brown ; re-
maining upper parts mottled with white, black, and two shades
of brown ; tail barred with white and black. Lower part of head
and most of the lower plumage plain black (or brownish black),
changed to white about vent and root of tail. Bill and legs
black.

No. 55.]

BIRD NAMES.

189

Adult, and young, in fall and winter. Not now " black-
bellied," but a "gray" plover; without the positive contrasts just
described ; clothed instead with Quaker-like simplicity. Upper
parts with neck and portions of breast finely streaked and
speckled with grayish brown and white ; the upper parts some-
times washed here and there with faint yellow. Remaining
under parts white. Bill and legs less black, or grayish in tone.

No. 56. Fall or Whiter Plumage.

Measurements about as follows : length eleven and a quarter
to twelve inches ; extent twenty-three and a half inches ; bill
one and a quarter inches.

It should be borne in mind, in this connection and others,
that a bird does not change its dress as a snake does its skin,
but that while passing from one plumage to another (as in the
case of this bird's belly from black to white, and vice versa) vari-
ous combinations are produced.

" Nearly cosmopolitan, but chiefly in the Northern Hemi-
sphere, breeding far north, and migrating south in winter ; in
America to the West Indies, Brazil, and New Granada " (A. O. U.
Check List).

190 BIRD NAMES. [No. 55.;

BLACK -BELLIED PLOVER: SWISS PLOVER : WHISTLING
PLOVER (see No. 56) : OX-EYE (given also to those very com-
mon and very small sandpipers, Tringa minutilla and Ereunetes
pusillus, better known as " peeps ") : SWISS SANDPIPER and
GRAY SANDPIPER of Pennant, and GRAY LAPWING of Swain-
son and Richardson. Wilson writes : " Called by many gunners
along the coast the BLACK-BELLIED KILLDEER;" and again:
" This bird is known in some parts of the country by the
name of the large whistling field plover. It generally makes its
first appearance in Pennsylvania late in April ; frequents the
countries towards the mountains ; seems particularly attached
to newly ploughed fields, where it forms its nest." Audubon
speaks of its breeding " in the mountainous parts of Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and Connecticut," and of finding its nests " in
the same localities as those of Totanus bartramius " (now Bar-
tramia longicauda\ and he adds that it is known " in Penn-
sylvania by the name of whistling field plover." Nuttall also
calls it "large whistling field plover," and speaks of its being
" known to breed from the open grounds of Pennsylvania to the
very extremity of the Arctic regions ;" and Dr. Lewis, in his
American Sportsman, tells of its returning from the South early
in May, and soon after retiring to the " high upland districts to
breed," and of its being known " at this time more particularly
as the old field -plover or whistling plover," and he adds: "A
most capital manoeuvre, and one adopted by some of our sport-
ing friends in the country, is to approach them in a careless man-
ner, either in an old wagon or cart or on horseback, as they
seldom take alarm at a horse or a vehicle of any description."
Now No. 55 does not breed in the United States, and Wilson
and the rest got it sadly mixed up with the Bartramian Sand-
piper, No. 50 ; and Dr. Lewis's account of the manner in which
his birds were pursued is plainly a description of a venerable
trick still practised on " field plover " No. 50.

I have found neither this bird (No. 55) nor the following
plover (No. 56), sufficiently well known or common enough along
the Maine coast from Eastport to Ash Point to have any well-
established names. With the exception of a few individuals who

No. 55.] BIRD NAMES. 191

shoot over dogs in the brush, the gunners of this section are
principally seaf owl-shooters who know very little, and care less,
about shore-birds.*

At Ash Point (near Kockland), Me., Seaford (Hempstead),
L. I., and Barnegat, N. J., GRAY PLOVER (see No. 50). In Maine
at Bath, Portland, and Pine Point, at Portsmouth, N. H., in
Massachusetts at Ipswich, Salem, North Scituate, Provincetown,
West Barnstable, Chatham, and New Bedford, at Stratford,
Conn., and Shinnecock Bay, L. L, BEETLE-HEAD ; at Eastville,
Ya., BEETLE simply. Again, at Bath and Portland, CHUCKLE-
HEAD. At North Plymouth, Mass., BOTTLE-HEAD. On Long
Island at Shinnecock Bay, and in New Jersey at Manasquan,
Tuckerton, Atlantic City, Somers Point, Cape May C. H., and
Cape May City, BULL-HEAD (see No. 56) ; at Stonington, Conn.,
BULL-HEAD PLOVER. " In the Eastern States," Audubon wrote,
" as well as in Kentucky, it is called the Bull-head ; but in the
South its most common appellation is Black -bellied Plover."
In New Jersey at Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), and Atlantic City,
HOLLOW-HEAD; and again at Pleasantville, OWL-HEAD. At
Pine Point, Me.,' Portsmouth, N. H., in Massachusetts at Prov-
incetown, West Barnstable, Chatham. New Bedford, and Fal-
mouth, and at Stratford, Conn., BLACK-BREAST (see Nos. 53,
56). On Long Island at Moriches, Bellport, and Seaford, and

* The term " shore-birds," as commonly used, means such species as the
curlews, plovers, sandpipers, etc., these being also termed " bay-birds " by
many; and Wilson wrote, while describing the red-backed sandpiper, No. 53 :
" This is one of the most numerous of our strand Urds as they are usually
called." Shore gunners very naturally associate birds of this kind almost
wholly with the beaches and meadows that border the sea, yet the same
species are to be met with, as well, away back upon the prairies of the interior,
particularly during the vernal migrations. Other titles used to designate these
birds collectively I have noted as follows: At Ash Point, Me., "sand-birds."
In Maine at Bath and Kennebunk, at Portsmouth, N. H., in Massachusetts at
Rowley, Salem, North Scituate, Provincetown, North Plymouth, and Barn-
stable, and at Newport, R. L, " marsh-birds." On Long Island, and in its
vicinity, " bay-snipe" and " shore-snipe." These are the only notes of the kind
that I can find among my memoranda, and I will not attempt to continue the
list from memory.

192 BIRD NAMES. [No. 55.

in New Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton, and Cape May City,
BLACK-BREAST PLOVER.

In numerous localities gunners divide this speciqs ; for exam-
ple, the name Beetle-head is commonly restricted to birds in
autumn dress, these being regarded as distinct from the Black-
breasts.

Known also at West Barnstable, Mass., as MAY COCK; and in
that interesting pamphlet about Shore Birds — No. 1, of the Forest
and Stream series, 1881, we find the following : " On the coast
of Virginia about Cobb's Island, the name of PILOT has been
given, as it is always seen leading the large flights of birds
which the rising tides drive from the shoals and oyster rocks,
and it is supposed to direct the flocks ' to pastures new.' This,
however, is not the case. It is the fastest flying bird of all the
bay snipe, and it cannot fly slow enough for the other species."

Mr. Swainson writes, in his Provincial Names of British Birds,
1885 : " Its habit of frequenting the sea-shore has obtained for
it the names SEA PLOVER : SEA COCK (Waterford) : STRAND
PLOVER (Cork): MUD PLOVER, STONE PLOVER (North and
South Ireland) : ROCK PLOVER (Wexford)."

No. 56.
Charadrms dominicus.

Sometimes confused with No. 55, but smaller, with a more
slender bill and three-toed (the latter species having a minute
hind toe) ; much more of an upland bird ; partial to rather bar-
ren or closely cropped fields, particularly to patches that have
been recently burned over.

Adult in breeding dress. Forehead and stripe over eye white ;
upper parts generally brownish black speckled with yellow and
white, the tail grayish brown with lighter markings. Under
parts, including the lower part of head, rich brownish black.
Bill nearly black. Legs dark bluish gray.

Adult at beginning of autumn (as we kill it on its journey
southward). Under parts white or ashy white, blotched irregu-

13

• " -<Q^5^3

No. 56. " Muddy-breast " Plumage.

194

BIRD NAMES.

[Xo. 56.

larly with brown or brownish black* (" Muddy -breast " now);
top of head dark ; the stripe over the eye light, but not white ;
remaining upper plumage much as in the breeding dress, but
more dull in tone.

Young (reaching us, the greater part of them, a little later
than the adults). Upper parts dark brown and brownish gray
speckled with yellow and dull white ; the yellow showing no-
ticeably on the crown, nape, and lower back (all the speckles of
the lower back yellow) ; head and neck streakily marked, the

neck lighter in color than top of head or back ; sides of head and
all around base of bill white or whitish streakily marked with
dusky. Under parts of plumage and sides of neck dull white
freckled with brownish gray, the chin pure white, the brownish
gray markings much paler on the lower surface of body, particu-
larly about the abdomen, and nearly or wholly disappearing in
neighborhood of vent.

* These blackish markings wholly disappearing in winter, at which time
the plumage throughout is practically that of the young bird.

No. 56.] BIRD NAMES. 195

This species closely resembles the Golden Plover of Europe
(C. apricarius), but in our bird the lining of the wings is gray,
while in the European it is white.

Measurements about as follows : length ten and a half inches ;
extent twenty -two inches ; bill one inch long.

A delicious bird for the table, and everywhere regarded as
such ; breeding in the Arctic regions, and migrating in large
flocks to the southern extremity of South America.

AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER: COMMON PLOVER: WHISTLING
PLOVER (see No. 55) : GOLDEN-BACK: BULL-HEAD (see No. 55).
Edwards, 1750, describing it under the name of the SPOTTED
PLOVER, says : " This bird was brought from Hudson's Bay by
Mr. Isham. I suppose when it is living it has a bright shining
eye, because I find by my friend Mr. Isham's account that the
English settled in Hudson's Bay call it the HAWK'S EYE."
Wilson, citing Pennant, credits the Black-bellied Plover, No.
55, with this name Hawk's-eye, believing Pennant's "Al war-
grim Plover " (Arctic Zoology, p. 483, No. 398) to be the latter
species.

In Maine at Ash Point, FIELD-BIRD ; at Bath, THREE-TOED
PLOVER ; and a venerable gunner of Bath, Mr. Samuel Foote,
remembers this latter name as so applied in his early childhood.
At Portland, Me., and in Massachusetts at Kowley, Ipswich,
North Scituate, North Truro, and North Plymouth, and at
Stonington, Conn., BLACK-BREAST (see Nos. 53, 55). At Port-
land, Me., Bellport, L. L, and Stratford, Conn., GOLDEN PLOVER.
At Portsmouth, N. H., and in Massachusetts at Salem and Chat-
ham, GREEN PLOVER. At Provincetown, Mass., and Moriches,
L. L, GREEN-BACK. In Massachusetts at Eowley, BRASS-BACK ;
at Ipswich and North Scituate, PALE-BREAST ; at Provincetown,
New Bedford, and Chatham, PALE-BELLY ; these last tAvo names
being applied only to the young birds, which are regarded by
many as a distinct species or variety. At West Barnstable and
New Bedford (Mass.), and Newport, R. L, GREEN-HEAD ; and
to the old people of West Barnstable, PASTURE-BIRD (a name
now seldom heard, but used there by every one until fifteen or

196 BIRD X^MjES. [No. 56-

twenty years ago). At Newport, E. I., MUDDY-BREAST ; and
at Seaford, L. L, FROST-BIRD.*

Mr. Henry P. Ives, of Salem, tells of its being known as TROUT-
BIRD at Hamilton, Mass. Mr. Browne records SQUEALER in
his list of gunners' names at Plymouth Bay (Forest and Stream,
November 9, 1876). Mr. John Murdoch (Forest and Stream,
December 9, 1886) speaks of hearing it called TOAD-HEAD on
Cape Cod ; stating that most of his " shore-bird nomenclature
for Cape Cod was learned in the town of Orleans in the seasons
of 1869-72, and chiefly from the older generation of gunners."
Mr. M. A. Howell, Jr., writes (Forest and Stream, March 1,
1877) : " From the regularity of the visits of these birds in for-
mer years to the sand bars of the upper Illinois and Kankakee,
they have been called by the resident shooters, KANKAKEE BAR
PLOVER." Mr. Warren Hapgood, in Forest and Stream Shore
Bird pamphlet, 1881, speaks of its being known in the West
as PRAIRIE PIGEON (see No. 50); and writes in reply to in-
quiries of mine that he has forgotten just where he heard the
name in use ; but he adds, " It was common talk when I was in
Iowa, before the article was written, that the earlier settlers
were annoyed by these birds, which, in the absence of a better
name, they called Prairie Pigeons."

* Herbert, in his Field Sports, credits tlie Bartramian Sandpiper, No. 50,
with this name Frost-bird, but later on applies it correctly to No. 56.

No. 57.
Numenius longirostris.

Plumage brownish buff or cinnamon brown, nearly plain be-
low, the upper parts mottled and barred with dark brown, the
markings more streaky upon the head and neck. Bill blackish,
changing to flesh color below about base. Legs bluish gray.

Measurements as follows: length about twenty -five inches;
extent thirty-eight to forty inches ; bill varying in length from
five to eight inches.

198 BIRD NAMES. [No. 57,

Range : " Temperate North America, migrating south to
Guatemala and the West Indies. Breeds in the South Atlantic
States, and in the interior through most of its North American
range" (A. O. U. Check List).

Not now a common species in New England or north of New
Jersey, and noticeably less cpmrnon along the shores of New
Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, than in former years.
In South Carolina and southward, and in interior parts of the
country, it is met with in goodly numbers.

SICKLE -BILL CURLEW, or SICKLE -BILL; very generally
known as such, or as the BIG CURLEW, along the coast as
far south as Maryland at least, though otherwise designated as
shown in the following list.

In Massachusetts at Eowley and New Bedford, HEN CUR-
LEW, or OLD-HEN CURLEW. "At Shinnecock Bay, Moriches,
Be 11 port, and many other Long Island localities, this is the only
CURLEW ; the Hudsonian, No. 58, being the "Jack," and the Es-
kimo, No. 59, the " Fute " or " Doe-bird " (see " Curlew " as ap-
plied to the Marbled Godwit, No. 60). In New Jersey at Tucker-
ton, LONG-BILLED CURLEW; at Absecum, Pleasantville (Atlan-
tic Co.), and Somers Point, BUZZARD CURLEW (its flight re-
sembling that of a turkey-buzzard) ; known also at Plea.santville
to some of the gunners as SMOKER or OLD SMOKER (the bill
curving downward like the stem of a pipe, and the enlarge-
ment at the end answering for the bowl); again at Pleasant-
ville, LOUSY-BILL (the bird being frequently found infested with
lice) ; at Cape May C. H., MOWYER (an old-fashioned word mean-
ing one who mows). To many gunners along the shores of South
Carolina and Georgia, and at St. Augustine, Fla., it is the SPAN-
ISH CURLEW — this name being given in books to the White
Ibis, Guara alba. Mr. Ridgway (in Survey of Fortieth Parallel,
1877) speaks of its being " called SNIPE by the people of the
Salt Lake Yalley ;" and also of its being " particularly abundant
along the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake, and some of
the larger islands."

In Hallock's Gazetteer (1877), SABRE-BILL.

No. 58.
Numenms ImdsonicTis.

Upper parts brown, the feathers edged and otherwise marked
with whitish ; general appearance similar to species No. 57, but
paler in tone and more gray. Throat and belly whitish with
some pale buff. Crown of the head blackish brown, divided in
the middle by a white, or nearly white, streak running from the

bill backward ; also a dark stripe running from the bill along the
side of the head — the head alone easily distinguishing this bird
from our other curlews, Nos. 57 and 59. Bill black or blackish,
flesh-colored below near base. Legs blue or bluish.

Length seventeen to eighteen inches; extent about thirty-

200 BIRD NAMES. [No. 58.

two inches; bill varying in length, say from two and three
quarter to three and three quarter inches.

Kange, according to A. O. U. Check List : " All of North and
South America, including the West Indies ; breeds in the high
North, and winters chiefly south of the United States."

HUDSONIAN CURLEW: called by Wilson and Nuttall, ESQUI-
MAUX CURLEW (see Esquimaux Curlew proper, No. 59), these
authors following the lead of Pennant, who, according to Fauna
Boreali - Americana, had " misapplied Mr. Hutchins's notes."
Pennant also refers to the present species as the ESQUIMAUX
WHIMBREL (because of its resemblance to the European curlew,
JV. phceopus, which is known as Whimbrel).

At Pine Point, Me. (I have no notes of hearing the gunners
name it north of this place), and in Massachusetts at Province-
town and Chatham, JACK CURLEW. On Long Island at Shinne-
cock Bay, Bellport, and Seaford, JACK, and Mr. William Dutcher,
in Forest and Stream, August 5, 1886, speaks of its being called
"almost universally on Long Island, Jack." Not J ack- curlew
be it understood, the only surname ever added in that locality
being "snipe;" all the waders are "snipe" or "bay-snipe" there.
In New Jersey at Barnegat, SMALL CURLEW;* at Tuckerton
and Cape May City, SHORT-BILLED CURLEW; at PleasantviUe
(Atlantic Co.), and Cape May C. H., MARLIN (see No. 60) ; again,
at Pleasant ville and at Somers Point, CROOKED-BILLED MARLIN;
in last-named locality, HOOK-BILLED MARLIN; and at Atlantic
City, HORSE-FOOT MARLIN, because of its fondness for the spawn
of that big crustacean known as "horse -foot," "horseshoe,"
"king-crab," etc., but, as elsewhere remarked, this food is re-
garded as very desirable by most of our shore birds. While the
Atlantic City gunners claim that No. 58 is the species to which
the latter name has been always applied in their region, the

* This is the most common curlew along the coast of New Jersey, and the
most common (I speak from my own experience) along the coasts of Dela-
ware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, and gunners in that part of the
country know very little about the Eskimo, No. 59, to which species the name
Small Curlew more appropriately belongs.

No. 58.] BIRD NAMES. 201

" Horse-foot Marlin " of the Somers Point gunners (same county)
is the Marbled Godwit, No. 60.

At Eastville, Va., STRIPED - HEAD, in which vicinity the spe-
cies is exceedingly numerous during its vernal migration; ar-
riving from the South at the beginning of May, and congre-
gating in enormous flocks in and about the broad marshes. I
originally intended to print the number locally reported as
killed on New. Marsh, between Cobb's Island and the mainland,
by one discharge of a gun held by Nathan Cobb (familiarly
known as " Big Nathan "), but my best friends strongly advise
me not to do so. While on my way through these marshes in
the spring of 1885 — frightening into the air clouds of these big
birds, more in a minute than I had seen before in my whole life —
it impressed me oddly to hear my old boatman complaining over
a yearly decrease. I forced him to confess, however, at one point
where the birds were particularly crowded, that " a right-smart
of curlews " was still left.

For the name "Doe-bird" with which this species has been
credited, see note (f) under No. 59.

No. 59.

Numenins borealis.

This bird may be briefly described by comparing it with the
other curlews. General markings and coloration very similar
to No. 57 ; prevailing tone of plumage warmer or more reddish
than that of No. 58, and bill much slenderer, as well as shorter;

differing also from No. 58 in having no white stripe on top of
the head. Bill blackish, flesh-colored beneath about base. Legs
grayish blue.

Measurements about as follows : length fourteen inches ;
extent twenty-eight inches; bill two and a quarter inches.

No. 59.] BIRD NAMES. 203

Range, as given in A. O. U. Check List : " Eastern Province
of North America, breeding in the Arctic regions, and migrating
south to the southern extremity of South America."

A better bird for the table than either of the other curlews ;
much more of an upland species ; very fond of berries and grass-
hoppers, and frequently found in the company of Golden Plover
(migrating from the North at about the same time). Its visits
to us are more irregular and less protracted than those of No.
58, with which it has been sometimes confounded.

ESQUIMAUX CURLEW (now written Eskimo Curlew. See
No. 58) : LITTLE CURLEW, and SMALL CURLEW (again see No.
58); and Nuttall (1834), having applied the name Esquimaux
Curlew to No. 58, called this the SMALL ESQUIMAUX CURLEW.

At Pine Point, Me., in Massachusetts at Ipswich, Salem,
North Scituate, Provincetown, North Truro, North Plymouth,
West Barnstable, Chatham,* and Nantucket, and at Moriches,
L. I., DOE-BIRD f (written also Dough-bird). At Stratford, Conn.,

* This species appears on the more eastern uplands of Cape Cod the last
of August or during the early days of September, and if severe easterly
storms prevail, it arrives in very large numbers. The Hudsonian, No. 58, is
far less numerous here, and the Long-billed, No. 57, may now be called rare.
No. 59 is a great favorite with Boston epicures, and the gunners get from
seventy-five cents to a dollar apiece for them ; as a table dainty I consider
them superior to all other birds, but they should hang with the feathers on, in
a shady, breezy place, for four or five days before being cooked.

t Other species have been credited with this name, but I do not remem-
ber ever hearing it in actual use for any bird but the Eskimo, to which it
now, at least, most certainly belongs. Nuttall, who was, of course, thinking
more of the birds themselves than of their common names, and who did not
perhaps fully realize the importance of such names as bearing upon the science
itself, tells us that the three species Nos. 58, 59, and 60 were included " un-
der the general name of Doe-birds." It is hard to believe that the gunners
ever mixed up these birds so indiscriminately. It is possible, of course, that
some used the name as we use " bay-bird," " sea-coot," etc., but I am inclined
to think that " Doe-bird " was used then by intelligent gunners, as it is now,
for No. 59 only. Later writers — more or less influenced perhaps by Nuttall's
testimony — must also be referred to in this connection. De Kay, in Zoology
of New York, credits Nos. 59 and 60 with this name. Samuels, in Ornithology

204 BIRD NAMES. [Xo. 59.

and on Long Island at Shinnecock Bay and Seaford (Hemp-
stead), PUTE.

In Water Birds of North America we read of its being known
to " Southern sportsmen " as Jack Curlew and Short-billed Cur-
lew, and that " it is said to reach the Middle States from the
South early in the spring, remaining only a short time, feeding
in the salt-marshes and on the mud-flats ;" and again, that the
Hudsonian Curlew is " generally known to sportsmen " by these
two names. Both these items were designed, perhaps, for a place
under the head of the last-named species (No. 58), to which the
names belong and the description applies.

of New England gives it as an alias of No. 60, mentions it under the head of
No. 59 only in a quotation -which he makes from Nuttall, and speaks of No.
61 as " called by the gunners the Smaller Doe-bird."

No. 6O.
Limosa fedoa.

Prevailing tone pale reddish cinnamon ; closely variegated
above with dusky brown ; dusky markings sometimes about the
breast and sides; the lighter tints of the plumage having an

occasional pinkish cast. Bill (curved slightly upward as in pict-
ure) flesh colored from the base more than half-way to tip, the
remainder blackish brown. Legs dark slate color.

Size varying according to different authors, about as follows :

206 BIRD NAMES. [No. 60.

length from sixteen to twenty-two inches ; extent thirty to forty
inches ; bill three and a half to five and a half inches ; and Wil-
son describes the bill as "nearly six inches in length." I have
measured only one freshly killed specimen ; its measurements
were : length twenty-one and a quarter inches ; extent thirty-
one inches ; bill three and three quarter inches.

Range, as given in A. O. U. Check List : " North America,
breeding in the interior (Missouri region and northward), migrat-
ing in winter southward to Central America and Cuba."

MABBLED GODWIT: GREAT MARBLED GODWIT: GREAT
GODWIT: AMERICAN GODWIT: GREATER AMERICAN GODWIT.*
Wilson (1813) speaks of its being sometimes called RED CURLEW
by " our gunners ;" and Maynard, in Birds of Eastern Massa-
chusetts, 1870, records BADGER -BIRD and BRANT -BIRD (see
Nos. 53, 54, 61).

I have but one note of hearing this species named between
New Brunswick and Rhode Island, where it is too little known
to bear any very well-established names. An old gunner at
Salem, Mass., to whom I showed a stuffed specimen, said, " We
call that a curlew here."

At Newport, R. L, COMMON MARLIN ; at Shinnecock Bay,
L. I., RED MARLIN (and referred to by this latter name in an
article about shooting near Barnegat Light, N. J., the communica-
tion being headed Snipe at Forked River — Forest and Stream,
October 3, 1878). On Long Island at Moriches, Bellport, and
Seaford, in New Jersey at Manasquan, Barnegat, Tuckerton,

* The name godwit is probably from the Anglo-Saxon god, good, and wild
or wihta, creature, animal, wight. A good bird to eat, in other words. We
read in Dr. Thomas Moufet's Health's Improvement, " corrected and enlarged "
by Chr. Bennet, 1655 : "A fat godwit is so fine and light meat, that noblemen,
yea, and merchants too, by your leave, stick not to buy them at four nobles a
dozen." Ip Hearne's Journey to the Northern Ocean, 1795, the name is printed
"godwait;" and Dr. Merriam refers as follows (1877) to the spelling in Rev.
J. H. Linsley's Catalogue of Connecticut Birds, 1843: " The good old preacher
in speaking of these birds could not take his Lord's name in vain on so slight
a provocation, hence he called them ' goodwits.'1 "

No. 60.J BIRD NAMES. 207

and Cape May City, and at Eastville, Ya., MAELIN (see No. 58) ;
and Mr. William Butcher mentions it as " BROWN MARLIN of
the Long Island gunners," Auk, October, 1886. The name Mar-
lin comes from a resemblance in the bird's bill to the old-fash-
ioned marline-spike, which was more or less curved in shape.

In New Jersey at Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), Townsend In-
let, Cape May C. H., and Cape May City, SPIKE-BILL, and less
frequently, SPIKE-BILLED CURLEW. At Atlantic City, N. J.,
Eastville, Ya., to some at Morehead,* N. C., and in the vicinity
of Charleston, S. C., STRAIGHT-BILLED CURLEW; but more com-
monly termed in the last two localities, CURLEW simply (the true
curlews, genus Numenius, being generally referred to as the
"crooked -billed curlews"). Latham (1785) tells of its being
known as " curlew " at Hudson's Bay, and I have before spoken
of hearing it so termed at Salem, Mass.

At Somers Point, N. J., HORSE-FOOT MARLIN (see No. 58).

For the name Doe-bird, with which the species has been cred-
ited, see note (f) under No. 59.

* I killed near Morehead, December 20th, one of the specimens from which
my description was taken. The species is quite common there, though not often
seen so late in the year.

No. 61.

Limosa haemastica.

Summer plumage. Back and wings grayish and blackish
brown with rather angular pale tan markings; tail-feathers
black (or brownish black) with ends narrowly tipped with
white ; lower back nearly plain dark brown separated from the

No. 61. Summer Plumage.

black of the tail by a broad white patch (" Spot-rump ") ; head
and neck streakily marked with pale gray and blackish ; the
longer wing-feathers (primaries) deep brown with white shafts
and touches of white about their bases. Under parts reddish

No. 61.] BIRD NAMES. 209

brown or chestnut barred with narrow dusky and whitish lines,
the markings much broader and more conspicuous behind or in
the neighborhood of tail; the reddish or chestnut tint continuing,
up faintly to a whitish throat; the lining of the wings chiefly
sooty brown. Bill flesh color, becoming brownish black at the
end. Legs and feet slate color.

Winter plumage. Above light warm gray, nearly plain, with
wings and tail about as in summer ; the white rump still conspicu-
ous. Under parts warm grayish white without noticeable mark-
ings, and becoming purer white behind. Bill and legs as in
summer.

Immature birds and adults passing from one plumage to an-
other, of course show intermediate tints and markings.

Length fourteen and a half to seventeen inches ; extent
twenty -six to twenty -nine inches; bill (curving slightly up-
ward as in picture) two and three quarters to three and a half
inches.

Range, as given in A. O. U. Check List, 1886 : Eastern North
America, and the whole of Middle and South America. Breeds
only in the high North.

HUDSONIAN GODWIT : AMERICAN BLACK-TAILED GODWIT :
RED -BREASTED GODWIT: ROSE - BREASTED GODWIT: BAY-
BREASTED GODWIT.

I have failed to fall in with this bird on the coast of Maine,
and none of the many gunners conversed with there are at all
familiar with it.

In Mr. Everett Smith's Birds of Maine,* BRANT-BIRD (see
Nos. 53, 54, 60). In Massachusetts at Rowley, Salem, Boston
markets, Provincetown, West Barnstable, and New Bedford,
GOOSE-BIRD; at Ipswich and Salem, BLACK-TAIL; at North
Scituate, Provincetown, and Chatham, SPOT-RUMP; at West
Barnstable, WHITE -RUMP. I know of no other part of the
United States where this species can be more surely found dur-
ing its migrations than upon certain portions of the Massachu-

* Published in Forest and Stream, 1382-83.
14

210 SIRD NAMES. [No. 61.

setts coast. Though in no part of the country is it a common
species, so far as I can ascertain.

At Newport, R. I., at all places visited on Long Island, in
New Jersey at Manasquan, Barnegat, Atlantic City, and Somers
Point, and on Cobb's Island, Ya., RING-TAILED MARLIN. Again,
in New Jersey at Pleasantville (Atlantic Co.), CAROLINA WILLET ;
at Somers Point, FIELD MARLIN.

(For the name " Smaller Doe-bird," with which this species
has been credited, see note (f) under No. 59.)

INDEX.

Assemblyman, 99.

Beetle-head, 1-91.

A.

ACORN duck, 34.

Aythya affinis, 57.
americana, 49.

Bell-tongue coot, 99.
Big curlew, 198.

Aix sponsa, 32.

collaris, 59.

gray goose, 1.

Alewife bird. 157.

marila nearctica, 52.

rail, 127.

Alwargrim plover, 195.

vallisueria, 45.

sea-duck, 94.

American black scoter, 106.

snipe, 151.

black -tailed god wit,

B.

yeHow-leg, 168.

209,

BADGER-bird, 206.

yellow-legged plover,

colin, 148.

Bald brant, 9.

168.

coot, 117.

coot, 119.

Big-headed snipe, 152.

dunlin, 181.

Bald-crown, 21.

Bill-willie, 164.

eider, 94.

Bald-face, 20.

Birch partridge, 146.

gallinule, 121.
godwit, 206.

Bald-faced widgeon, 21.
Bald-head, 20.

Bishop plover, 186.
Black and white coot, 94.

golden-eye, 77.

Bald-headed brant, 9,

Black-bellied killdeer, 190.

golden plover, 195.

Bald-pate, 20, 103.

plover, 190.

green-winged teal, 27.

Bardrake, 69.

sandpiper, 181.

merganser, 64.

Barnacle, 6.

Black brant, 6.

partridge, 148.

goose, 6.

Black-breast, 182, 191, 195.

pochard. 50.

norway, 6.

little, 182.

quail, 148.

wexford, 6.

plover, 192.

rail, 131.

Barren hen, 136.

Black-breasted sandpiper,

red-backed sandpiper,
181.

Barrow's golden-eye, 78.
BartramiaTlongicauda,171.

181.
Black butter-bill, 107.

scaup duck, 53

Bartramian sandpiper, 172.

coot, 107.

scoter, 106.

tattler, 172.

diver, 106.

sheldrake, 64.

Bartram's highland snipe,

duck, 17, 99, 103.

snipe, 156.

172.

english duck, 17.

teal, 28.

sandpiper. 172.

flusterers, 119.

•white - fronted goose,

tattler, 172.

gallinule, 123.

11.

Bastard broad-bill, 61.

grouse, 141.

widgeon, 20, 55.

Batter-scoot, 110.

Black-head, 55.

woodcock, 151.

Bay birds, 191.

bay, 55.

Anas americana, 18.

Bay black-head, 55.

creek, 58.

boschas, 13.

Bay-breasted godwit, 209.

ring-billed, 61.

carolinensis, 26.

Bay broad-bill, 55.

ring- necked, 60.

discors, 29.

coot, 104.

Black-headed goose, 2.

obscura, 17.

goose, 1.

raft-duck, 55.

strepera, 22.

shuffler, 55.

Black-heart, 181.

Anser albifrons gambeli,

snipe, 191,200.

plover, 181.

10.

Beach-bird, 186.

Black mallard, 17.

hutchinsii, 4.

Beach robin, 179.

scoter, 106.

Arenaria interpres, 184.

Bec-scie, 75.

sea-duck, 104.

melanocephala, 185.

sea, 69.

white-wing, 98.

Ash-colored sandpiper, 178.

Beetle, 191.

Black-jack, 61.

212

INDEX.

Black-neck, 55.

Brant, pied, 11.

Black-tail, 209.

prairie, 12.

Bladder-scoot, 110.

sea, 99.

Blaten duck, 24.

speckled, 12.

Blather-scoot, 110.

white, 9.

Blatherskite, 110.

Brant-bird, 182, 186, 206,

Blind snipe, 152.

209.

Blossom-bill, 104.

Brant-snipe, 182, 186.

Blossom-head, 104.

Branta bernicla, 5.

Blue-bill, 54, 110.

canadeusis, 1.

lake, 54.

canadensis hutchinsii,

little, 57.

3.

marsh, 57, 60.

Brass-back, 195.

mud, 57.

Brass eye, 78.

river, 57.

Brass-eyed whistler, 78.

Blue-billed widgeon, 54.
Blue goose, 9.

Breakhorn, 65.
Brent, 6.

marsh- hen, 117.
plover, 179.

goose, 6.
Bristle-tail, 112.

snow goose, 9.

Broad-bill, 43, 55, 110.

wavey, 9.

bastard, 61.

Blue-peter, 118.

bay, 55.

Blue-peters, 119.

coot, 107.

Blue-wing, 30.

creek, 58.

Blue-winged goose, 9.

deep-water, 55.

shoveller, 42.
teal, 30.

dipper, 110.
fresh-water, 58.

Bobolink, 132.

goshen, 58.

Bob-white, 148.

hard-headed, 110.

Cuban, 149.

mud, 58.

florida, 149.

pond, 58.

texan, 149.

red-headed, 51.

Bog bird, 152.

river, 57.

snipe, 156.

salt-water, 55.

Bog-sucker, 152.

sleepy, 110.

Bonasa umbellus, 143.

winter, 55.

umbellus sabini, 145.

Broady, 43.

umbellus togata, 145.

Brown-back, 160, 175.

umbellus umbelloides,

Brown coot, 104, 107.

145.

diving teal, 112.

Booby, 96, 111. 113.

marlin, 207.

Bottle-head, 191.

snipe, 160.

Box coot, 104.

Brownie, 175.

Bracket, 65.

Buffalo-headed duck, 81.

sheldrake, 65.

Buff-breast, 179.

Brand goose, 6.

Buff -breasted merganser,

Brant, 6, 12.

64.

bald, 9.

sheldrake, 64.

bald-headed, 9.

Buffel's head duck, 81.

black, 6.

Buffle duck, 81.

Canada, 2.

Bufflc-head, 81.

coot, 99.

Bull coot, 99.

fish, 9.

Bull-head, 79, 191, 195.

goose, 4, 6.

plover, 191.

gray, 12.

Bull-neck, 48, 56, 111.

harlequin, 11.

red-headed, 48.

hutchins's, 3.

Bumble-bee coot, 110.

may, 6.

Bunty, 61.

Bustard, 1.
Butler duck, 43.
Butter back, 83.
Butter ball, 83, 110.

spoon-billed, 110.
Butter-bill, 107.
Butterboat-bill, 104.
Butterboat-billed t;oot, 104
Butter-bowl, 110.
Butter-box, 83.
Butter-duck, 83, 110.
Butter-nose, 107.
Buzzard curlew, 198.

CACCAWEE, 89.
Calaw, 89.
Calico-back, 186.
Calico-bird, 186.
Calico-jacket, 186.
California peep, 182.

widgeon, 20.
Caloo, 89.
Can, 48.
Canada brant, 2.

goose, 1, 3, 4.

grouse, 141.
Canvas, 100.
Canvas-back, 47.

Washington, 51.
Carolina crake, 131.

crake gallinule, 131.

rail, 131.

willet, 210.
Cedar partridge, 141.
Channel duck, 99.
Charadriusdominicus,193.

squatarola, 188.
Charitonetta albeolti, 80.
Checkered-snipe, 186.
Chen caerulescens, 8, 9.

hyperborea, 8.

hyperborea nivalis, 8.
Chickacock, 24.
Chicken, 186.
Chicken-bill, 132.
Chicken-billed rail, 132.
Chicken-bird, 186.
Chicken-plover, 186.
Chickling, 186.
Chuckatuck, 187.
Chuckle-head, 191.
Cinereous coot, 117.
Clangula hyemalis, 84.
Clapper-rail, 127.

lesser, 129.
Clatter-goose, 6.
Coal and candle-light, 89.

INDEX.

213

Cob-head, 79.

Coot, pied-winged, 99.

Curlew, spike-billed, 207.

Cock, 152.
Cockawee, 89,

pumpkin-blossom,107.
quill-tail, 112.

stone, 165.
straight-billed, 207.

Cock-robin, 74.

sleepy, 111.

Curlews, crooked - billed,

duck, 74.
Col-candle-wick, 89.

smuttv, 107.
speckled-bill, 103.

207.
Curre, 79.

Coldie, 89.

spectacle, 103.

Cuthbert duck, 94.

Colin, 148.

summer, 123.

american, 148.

uncle-sam, 99.

D.

Virginian, 148.
Colinus virginianus, 147.

whistling, 107.
white-winged, 98.

DAB chick. 82.
Dafila acuta, 35.

virginianus floridanus,

widgeon, 111.

Dapper, 82, 110.

149.

Coots, 96.

Darcall, 89.

Columbian sharp - tailed

sea, 96.

Daub-duck, 111.

grouse, 189.

Copper-bill, 107.

Deaf-duck, 111.

Common american par-

Copper-nose, 107.

Deep - water broad - bill,

tridge, 148.

Corn-field plover, 173.

55.

blue-winged teal, 31.

Cow-snipe, 176.

Dendragapus canadensis,

brant, 6.

Coween, 88.

140.

coot, 117.

Cow-frog, 43.

Devil-diver, 82.

eider, 94.

Cracker, 39.

Dickey, 113.

gallinule, 121.

Crake, Carolina, 131.

Die-dapper, 82.

golden-eye, 77.

Cravat goose, 2.

Die-dipper, 82.

gray goose, 1.

Creddock, 186.

Dinkey, 113.

marlin, 206.

Creek black-head, 58.

Dip-chick, 82.

plover, 195.

broad-bill, 58.

Dipper, 81, 82, 110.

rail, 131.

coot, 110.

broad-bill, 110.

sharp - tailed grouse,

duck, 24.

mud, 110.

139.

red-head, 61.

robin, 82.

snipe, 152, 156.

Crested wood duck, 84.

scotch, 83.

turnstone, 185.

Crocker, 6.

Dip-tail diver, 112.

wavey, 9.

Crooked - billed curlews,

Diver, 83.

wild duck, 15.

207.

black, 106

wild goose, 1.

marlin, 200.

devil, 82.

yellow-legs, 169.

snipe, 182.

dip-tail, 112.

Conjuring-duck, 78, 81.

Crow-bill, 118.

dun, 64, 112.

Coot, 110, 117, 118, 123,

Crow-duck, 118.

gray, 70.

132.

Cub-head, 79.

hell, 82.

american, 117.

Cu-cu, 168.

hen-bill, 82.

bald, 119.

large, 168.

king, 79.

bay, 104.

Cur, 79.

ruddy, 112.

bell-tongue, 99.

Curlew, 198, 206, 207.

saw-bill, 73.

black, 107.

big, 198.

Dob-chick, 82.

black and white, 94.

buzzard, 198.

Doe-bird, 203.

box, 104.

eskimo, 203.

smaller, 210.

brant, 99.

esquimaux, 200, 203.

Doewitch, 161.

broad-billed, 107.

hen, 198.

Dop-chick, 82.

brown, 104, 107.

hudsonian, 200.

Dopper, 82, 110.

bull, 99.

jack, 200, 204.

Dotterel, sea, 185.

bumble-bee, 110.

long-billed. 198.

Dough-bird, 203.

butter-boat-billed, 104.

old-hen, 198.

Dowitch, 160, 176.

cinereous, 117.

pied-winged, 164.

Dowitchee, 161.

common, 117.

red, 206.

Dowitcher, 160.

creek, 110.

short-billed, 200, 204.

long-billed, 162.

gray, 104, 107.

sickle-bill, 198.

western, 162.

hollow-billed, 104,107.

small, 200, 203.

white-tail, 162.

horse-head, 103.

small esquimaux, 203.

Driver, 160.

patch-polled, 103.

Spanish, 198.

Drumming grouse, 145.

214

INDEX.

Drumming partridge, 145.
Duck, 15.

Duck, pied gray, 38.
raft, 55.

Esquimaux curlew, 200,
203.

acorn, 34.

red-headed, 50.

whimbrel, 200.

american scaup, 53.

ring-necked, 60.

big sea, 94.

rock, 91.

F.

black, 17, 99, 103.

round-crested, 73.

FALL duck, 51.

black english, 17.

ruddy, 110.

snipe, 182.

blaten, 24.

saint cuthbert's, 94.

Fan-crested duck, 73.

buffalo headed, 81.

scale, 69.

Fat-bird, 176.

buffel's head, 81.

scotch, 83.

Field-bird, 195.

buffle, 81.

scoter, 106.

Field marlin, 210.

butler, 43.

sea, 55, 94.

plover, 172.

butter, 83, 110.

sharp tailed, 89.

Fish brant, 9.

channel, 99.

shoal, 94.

duck, 65, 69, 73.

cock-robin, 74.

sleepy, 111.

Fisherman, 65, 69.

common wild, 15.

sleigh-bell, 107.

Fishing-duck, 65, 69.

conjuring, 78, 81.

smoking, 21.

Fizzy, 107.

creek, 24.

spectacle, 103.

Flight goose, 3, 4.

crested wood, 34.

spirit, 78, 81.

Flock-duck, 55, 58.

crow, 118.

squam, 94.

Flocking-fowl, 58.

cuthbert, 94.

stock, 16.

Florida gallinule, 121, 123.

daub, 111.

summer, 34.

Flusterers, 118, 119.

deaf, 111.

surf, 103.

Fool-duck, 111.

dumpling, 113.

swallow-tailed, 87.

Freckled sandpiper, 178.

dunter, 94.

tree, 34, 75.

French duck, 15.

dusky, 14, 17.
dusky and spotted, 91.

tufted, 60.
velvet, 98, 99.

Fresh-marsh hen, 125.
Fresh-water broad-bill, 58.

english, 15.

wheat, 21.

hen, 125.

fall, 51.

whistle, 78.

marsh-hen, 125, 129.

fan-crested, 73.

whistling, 107.

mud-hen, 129.

fish, 65, 69.

white-faced, 30.

sheldrake, 64.

fishing, 65, 69.

white-winged surf, 98.

Frost-bird, 196.

flock, 55, 58.

wild, 15.

Fulica americana, 115.

fool, 111.

winter. 39, 89.

Fute, 204.

french, 15.

wood, 34, 75.

german, 24.

Duck-snipe, 165.

G.

gray, 15, 24, 37.

Duckinmallard, 16.

GADWALL, 24.

great black, 103.

Dumpling-duck, 113.

Gallinago delicata, 155.

greater scaup, 53.
harle, 69.

'Dun-bird, 112.
Dun-diver, 64, 112.

Gallinula galeata, 120.
Gallinule, 123.

harlequin, 91.

Dunlin, 181.

american, 121.

heavy-tailed, 112.

americau, 181.

black, 123.

herald, 69.

Dunter, 94.

Carolina crake, 131.

isles of shoals, 94.

duck, 94.

common, 121.

lesser scaup, 57.

goose, 94.

florida, 121, 123.

little black and white,
81.

Dusky-duck, 14, 17.
mallard, 17.

purple, 123.
scarlet- fronted, 121.

little brown, 81.

soree, 131.

long-tailed, 87.

E.

Gannet, 186.

maiden, 44.

Earl duck, 69.

Gar-bill, 69.

mire, 16.

Eastern white-wing, 99.

Garrot, 78.

moss, 16.

Eider, american, 94.

German duck, 24.

mountain, 91.

common, 94.

snipe, 161.

muir, 16.

English duck, 15.

Glaucionetta clangula

mussel, 55.

rail, 132.

americana, 76.

noisy, 87.

snipe, 156.

Godwait, 206.

painted, 91.

Erismatura rubida, 108.

Godwit, 206,

pheasant, «1, 38, 74.

Eskimo goose, 3.

american, 206.

INDEX.

215

Godwit, american black -

Goose, rat, 6.

Grisled sandpiper, 178.

tailed, 209.

red, 9.

Grouse, 136, 139.

bay-breasted, 209.

reef, 1.

black, 141.

great, 206.

road, 6.

brown ruffed, 145.

greater american, 206.

rood, 6.

Canada, 141.

great marbled, 206.

rott, 6.

Columbian sharp-tail-

hudsonian, 209.

small gray, 3.

ed, 139.

marbled, 206.

snow, 9.

common sharp-tailed,

new york, 160.

southern, 4.

139.

red-breasted, 209.

texas, 9.

drumming, 145.

rose-breasted, 209.

white-fronted, 11.

long-tailed, 139.

telltale, 167.

white-headed, 9.

northern sharp-tailed,

yellow-legged, 169.

widgeon, 111.

139.

Goggle-nose, 103.

winter, 3, 4.

pale pinnated, 135.

Golden-back, 195.

yellow-legged, 12.

pinnated, 135.

Golden-eye, 79.

Goose-bird, 209.

pin-tailed, 138.

american, 77.

Goshen broad-bill, 58.

prairie sharp - tailed,

barrow's, 78.

Granny, 88.

139.

common, 77.

Grass-bird, 175.

ruffed, 145.

Golden-eyes, 61.
Golden plover, 195.

Grass plover, 173.
snipe, 175.

sharp-tailed, 138.
shoulder-knot, 145.

Goodwits, 206.

Gray brant, 12.

spotted, 141.

Google-nose, 103.

coot, 104, 107.

spruce, 141.

Goosander, 63.

diver, 70.

southern sharp-tailed,

red-breasted, 68.

duck, 15, 24, 37.

139.

Goose, american white -

lapwing, 190.

southern spike-tailed,

fronted, 11.

mallard, 16.

139.

barnacle, 6.

plover, 173, 191.

timber, 141.

bay, 1.

sandpiper, 190.

tippet, 145.

big gray, 1.

snipe, 160.

white, 139.

black-headed, 2.

white- wing, 98.

wood, 141.

blue, 9.

widgeon, 24, 38.

Gutter snipe, 157.

blue snow, 9.

Gray -back, 51, 55, 161,

-~

blue-winged, 9.

178.

H.

brand, 6.

greater, 162.

HAiRY-crown, 69.

brant, 4, 6.

Greaser, 112.

Hairy-head, 74.

brent, 6.

Great black duck, 103.

Hard-head, 111.

Canada, 1, 3, 4.

godwit, 206.

Hard - headed broad - bill,

clatter, 6.

lake sheldrake, 64.

110.

common gray, 1.

marbled godwit, 206.

Hard-tack, 113.

common wild, 1.

may white-wing, 98.

Hareld, long-tailed, 87.

cravate, 2.

red-breasted rail, 125.

northern, 89.

dunter, 94.

Greater american godwit,

Harlan, 39.

eskimo, 3.

206.

land, 69.

flight, 3, 4.

gray-back, 162.

Harle, 69.

horie, 6.

long-beak, 162.

duck, 69.

horra, 6.

scaup duck, 53.

Harlequin brant, 11.

hutchius's, 3.

snow goose, 8.

duck, 91.

hutchins's barnacle, 3.

telltale, 167.

Hawk's eye, 195.

hutchins's Canada, 3.

yellow-legs, 167.

Hay-bird, 176.

laughing, 11.
lesser Canada, 3.

yellow-shanks, 167.
Great-head, 79.

Heart-bird, 186.
Heath-cock, 136.

little wild, 3.

Green-back, 195.

black jbnd spotted, 142.

marsh, 4.
mexican, 9.

Green-head, 15, 55, 195.
Green-headed widgeon, 20.

pinnsfted, 136.
ruffeci, 145.

mud, 4.

Green plover, 195.

Heath-hen, 135, 136, 141.

prairie, 4.

Green-wing, 27.

Heavy-tailed duck, 112.

quink, 6.

Green-winged teal, 27.

Hebridal sandpiper, 185.

216

INDEX.

Hell-diver, 82.

Krieker, 176.

Mallard, 14, 15.

Hen-bill, 82, 118.

Kriecher, 176.

black, 17.

diver, 82.

dusky, 17.

Hen curlew, 198.

L.

gray, 16.

Herald, 69.

LADY bird, 39.

Mangrove hen, 127.

duck, 69.

Lake blue-bill, 54.

Marbled godwit, 206.

Hickory-head, 112.

Land harlau, 69.

Marlin, 200, 207.

Highland plover, 172.

Lapwing, gray, 190.

brown, 207.

Hill-bird, 172.

Large cucu, 168.

common, 206.

Histrionicus histrionicus,

Laughing goose, 11.

crooked- billed, 200.

90.

Lead-back, 182.

field, 210.

Hollow - billed coot, 104,

Least green-wiugedteal,28.

horse-foot, 200, 207.

107.

Leather-back, 113.

red, 206.

Hollow-head, 191.

Lesser canada goose, 3.

ring-tailed, 210.

Honker, 1.

clapper rail, 129.

Marrionette, 82.

Hooded merganser, 73.

prairie hen, 135.

Marsh blue-bill, 57, 60.

sheldrake, 73.

scaup duck, 57.

goose, 4.

Hook-billed marlin, 200.

snow goose, 8.

plover, 152, 175.

Hookumpake, 153.

woodcock, 151.

pullet, 122.

Horie goose, 6.

yellow-shanks, 169.

snipe, 156.

Horra goose, 6.

Light-wood knot, 113.

Marsh-birds, 191.

Horse- foot marlin, 200, 207.

Limosa fedoa, 205.

Marsh-hen, 117, 122, 123,

snipe, 179, 185.

haemastica, 208.

125, 127.

Horse-head, 103.

Little american water-hen,

blue, 117.

coot, 103.

131.

fresh, 125.

Horse yellow-leg, 168.

black-breast, 182.

fresh- water, 125, 129.

Hound, 87.

blue-bill, 57.

salt-water, 127.

Hudsonian curlew, 200.

brown duck, 81.

Maryland partridge, 148.

godwit, 209.

curlew, 203.

quail, 148.

Humility, 164, 167, 173.

red-breasted rail, 129.

May bird, 178.

Hutchins's barnacle goose,

saw-bill, 73.

brant, 6.

3.

sheldrake, 73.

cock, 192.

brant, 3.

wild goose, 3.

white-wing, 98.

Canada goose, 3.

woodcock, 151, 156.

Meadow-chicken, 132.

goose, 3.

yellow-leg, 169.

Meadow-clapper, 127.

Long-beak, greater, 162.

Meadow-hen, 117, 127.

I.

Long-billed curlew, 198.

salt-water, 127.

iRON-head, 79.

dowitcher, 162.

Meadow-snipe, 156, 176.

Iron pots, 96.

rail, 129.

Mealy-bird, 89.

Isles of shoals duck, 94.

snipe, 162.

Merganser, 64.

Long island sheldrake, 68.

american, 64.

J.
JACK, 200.

Long-legged tattler, 167.
Long-neck, 39.

american us, 62.
buff -breasted, 64.

curlew, 200, 204.

Looby, 111.

hooded, 73.

snipe, 156, 162, 175.

Lophodytes cucullatus,71.

red-breasted, 68.

Jingler, 79.

Lord, 91.

serrator, 66.

Jinny, 186.

Long-tailed duck, 87.

Merry-wing, 78.

grouse, 139.

Mexican goose, 9.

•

hareld, 87.

Mire duck, 16.

KANKAKEE bar i over, 196.

Lord and ladv, 91.

Mommy, 88.

Kill-cu, 168, 170.

Lousy-bill, 198.

Moon-bill, 61.

Killdeer,black-b< .ied,190.

Moor fowl, 146.

King diver, 79. '

M.

Moor hen, 117, 122.

ortolan, 122.

MACRORHAMPHUS griseus,

Morocco-head, 65.

rail, 122, 12c.

159.

Morocco- jaw, 103.

sora, 122.

scolopaceus, 162.

Morrillon, 78.

Kite-tailed widgeon, 39.
Knot, 178.

Maggot-snipe, 186.
Maiden duck, 44.

Moss duck, 16.
Moss-head, 74.

INDEX.

217

Mountain duck, 91.

Pile-start, 39.

partridge, 146, 153.

P.

Pill-willet, 165.

pheasant, 146.

PADDY, 112.

Pill-will-willet, 165.

Mowyer, 198.

Paddy-whack, 113.

Pilot, 192.

Mud blue-bill, 57.

Painted duck, 91.

Pinnated grouse, 135.

broad-bill, 58.

Pale-belly, 195.

heath-cock, 136.

dipper, 110.

Pale-breast, 195.

Pin-tail, 38, 112, 138.

goose, 4.
plover, 192.

Pale pinnated grouse, 135.
Papabote, 173.

chicken, 139.
grouse, 138.

pullet, 123.

Partridge, 146, 148.

Pishaug, 104.

snipe, 151.

american, 148.

Pisk a sish, 3.

teal, 28.

birch, 146.

Plain plover, 173.

Mud -hen, 117, 122, 123,

cedar, 141.

Plaster-bill, 103.

127, 152.

common american, 148

Plover, 167, 169.

fresh-water, 129.
red-billed, 122.

drumming, 145.
maryland, 148.

american golden, 195.
big yellow-legged, 168.

small, 129.

mountain, 146, 153.

bishop, 186.

Mud-shoveller, 43.

night, 153.

black-bellied, 190.

Muddy-breast, 196.

salt-water, 187.

black-breasted, 192.

Muir duck, 16.

spruce, 141.

black-heart, 181.

Muscle-bill, 103.

swamp, 141.

bull-head, 191.

Mussel-duck, 55.

Virginian, 148.

chicken, 186.

water, 112.

common, 195.

K

wood, 141.

corn-field, 173.

NEW york godwit, 160.
Night-partridge, 153.
Night-peck, 153.
Noddy, 112,113.
Noisy duck, 87.
North Carolina sheldrake,
64

Pasture-bird, 195.
Pasture plover, 172.
Patch-head, 103.
Patch-polled coot, 103.
Pectoral sandpiper, 175.
Pediocaetes phasiauellus,
139.

field, 172.
golden, 195.
grass, 173.
gray, 173, 191.
green, 195.
highland 172.
kankakee bar, 196.

Northern hareld, 89.

phasianellus campes-

large whistling field,

Norway barnacle, 6.
Numenius borealis, 202.
hudsonicus, 199.
longirostris, 197.

tris, 137.
phasianellus colum-
bianus, 138.
Peep, California, 182.
Pelick, 118.

190.
marsh, 152, 175.
mud, 192.
old field, 190.
pasture, 173.

Pewee, 153.

plain, 173.

.

Pheasant, 38, 65, 69, 74,

prairie, 173.

OIDEMTA americana, 105.

146.

red-lep-ged, 186.

deglandi, 96.

mountain, 146.

rock, 182,192.

perspicillata, 101.

sea, 38.

sea, 192.

Old billy, 88.

water, 38, 65, 74.

small yellow - legged.

granny, 88.

Pheasant-duck, 21, 38, 74.

170.

hen-curlew, 198.

Philohela minor, 150.

Spanish, 165.

honker, 1.

Picitail, 38.

spotted, 195.

injun, 87.

Pickaxe sheldrake, 73.

stone, 192.

iron pots, 96.

Picket-tail, 38.

strand, 192.

molly, 88.

Pictured-bill, 103.

swiss, 190.

smoker, 198.

Pied brant, 11.

three-toed, 195.

squaw, 87, 88.

gray duck, 38.

upland, 172.

wife, 88.

sheldrake, 69.

variegated, 187.

wives, 119.
Ortolan, 132.

whistler, 78.
Pied-winged coot, 99.

whistling, 190, 195.
whistling field, 190.

king, 122.
Owl-head, 191.

curlew, 164.
Pigeon, prairie, 173, 196.

yellow - legged, 167,
169.

Ox-bird, 181.

Pigeon-tail, 39.

yellow - shanks, 167,

Ox-eye, 190.

Pike-tail, 38.

169.

218

INDEX.

Poacher, 20.

Rail, long-billed, 129.

Robin-breast, 179.

Pochard, 50.

red, 129.

Robin-dipper, 82.

american, 50.

sora, 131.

Robin-snipe, 160, 179.

Pond broad-bill, 58.

Virginia, 129.

white, 178.

hen, 117.

Rail-bird, 132.

Rock-bird, 182.

saw-bill, 74.

Rallus elegans, 124.

winter, 182.

sheldrake, 64, 73.
Popping widgeon, 70.

longirostris crepitans,

Rock duck, 91.
plover, 182, 192.

Porzana Carolina, 130.

virginianus, 128.

snipe, 182.

Poule d'eau, 117.

Rat goose, 6.

Rodge, 25.

Poulet dean, 118.

Red curlew, 206.

Rood goose, 6.

Prairie brant, 12.

goose, 9.

Rook, 112.

chicken, 135, 139.

marlin, 206.

Rose-breasted godwit, 209.

goose, 4.

rail, 129.

Rott goose, 6.

Prairie-hen, 135.

sandpiper, 178.

Round-crested duck, 73.

lesser, 135.

Red-back, 181.

Ruddy diver, 112.

texas, 135.
Prairie pigeon, 173, 196.

Red-backed sandpiper, 181 .
Red-bellied snipe, 162.

duck, 110.
Ruffed-grouse, 145.

plover, 173.

Red-billed mud-hen, 122.

Canadian, 145.

sharp - tailed grouse,

Red-breast, 179.

gray, 145.

139.

plover, 179.

Oregon, 145.

snipe, 173.

Red-breasted godwit, 209.

Ruffed heath-cock, 145.

Pulldoo, 117.

goosander, 68.

Pumpkin - blossom coot,

merganser, 68.

S.

107.

sandpiper, 178.

SABRE-bill, 198.

Purple gallinule, 123.

shoveller, 42.

Saint cuthbert's duck, 94.

sandpiper, 182.
Purre, 181.

snipe, 151, 160.
Red-head, 47. 50.

Salt-marsh hen, 127.
Salt-water broad-bill, 55.

creek, 61.

marsh-hen, 127.

•

Red-headed broad-bill, 51.

jneadow-hen, 127.

QUAIL, 148.

bull-neck, 48.

partridge, 187.

american, 148.

duck, 50.

sheldrake. 69.

maryland, 148.

raft-duck, 51.

teal, 111. '

sea, 186.

teal, 28.

Sand-birds, 191.

\irginian, 148.

Red-legged plover, 186.

Sand-runner, 186.

Quail snipe, 161.

Red-legs, 186.

Sand widgeon, 25.

Quaily, 172.

Red-neck, 47.

Sandpiper, american red-

Quandy, 89.

Reed-bird, 132.

backed, 181.

Quill-tail coot, 112.

Reef goose, 1.

ash-colored, 178.

Quink-goose, 6.

Rice- bird, 132.

bartramian, 172.

Rice hen, 122.

bartram's, 172.

R.

Ring-bill, 60.

black-bellied, 181.

RAFT-duck, 55.

Rir-T-billed black-head,61.

black-breasted, 181.

black-headed, 55.

8huffler, 61.

freckled, 178.

red-headed, 51.

Rii T. necked black-head,

gray, 190.

Rail, 132.

60.

grisled, 178.

american, 131.

duck, 60.

hebridal, 185.

big, 127.

scaup, 60.

pectoral, 175.

Carolina, 131.

Ri/ ig-tailed marlin, 210.

purple, 182.

chicken-billed, 132.

R- /er blue- bill, 57.

red, 178.

clapper, 127.

. broad-bill, 57.

red-backed, 181.

common, 131.

Nhdclrake, 64.

red-breasted, 178.

english, 132.

shuffler, 58.

swiss, 190.

great red - breasted,

H >ad goose, 6.

upland, 172.

125.

y )bin, 68, 179.

Saw-bill, 65, 69, 73.

king, 122, 125.

beach, 179.

diver, 73.

lesser clapper, 129.

cock, 74.

little, 73.

little red-breasted, 129.

sea, 68.

pond, 74. .

INDEX.

219

Saw-bill, \vidgeon, 69.

Sheldrake, pied, 69.

Smees, 38.

Sawneb, 69.

pond, 64, 73.

Smethe, 38.

Scale duck, 69.

river, 64.

Smew, 74.

Scarlet - fronted gallinule,

salt-water, 69.

Smoker, 198.

121.

spring, 68.

Smoking duck, 21.

Scaup, 53, 54.
ring-necked, 60.

summer, 73.
swallow-tailed, 89.

Smutty coot, 107.
Snipe, 151, 156, 198, 200.

Scaup duck, american,53.

swamp, 64, 73.

american, 156.

greater, 53.

weaser, 65.

bartram's highland,

lesser, 57.

winter, 64.

172.

Scoldenore, 89.

wood, 73.

bay, 191, 200.

Scolder, 89.

Shelduck, 68.

big, 151.

Scotch dipper, 83.

Shoal duck, 94.

big-headed, 152.

teal, 83.

Shore-bird, crouching, 176.

blind, 152. '

Scotchman, 83.

Shore-birds, 191.

bog, 156.

Scoter, american, 106.

Shore-snipe, 191.

brant, 182, 186.

black, 106.

Short -billed curlew, 200,

brown, 160.

duck, 106.

204.

checkered, 186.

lake huron, 99.

Short-neck, 176.

common, 152, 156.

suTf, 103.

Shot-pouch, 111.

crooked-billed, 182.

velvet, 98.
white-winged, 98.

Shoulder-knot grouse, 145.
Shovelard, 44.

duck, 165,
english, 156.

Scoters, 96.

Shovel-bill, 43.

fall, 182.

Sea bec-scie, 69.

Shoveller, 42.

german, 161.

brant, 99.

blue-winged, 42.

grass, 175.

cock, 192.

mud, 43.

gray, 160.

coots, 96.

red-breasted, 42.

gutter, 157.

crow, 118.

Shrups, 152.

horse-foot, 179, 185.

dotterel, 185.

Shuffler, 58.

jack, 156, 162, 175.

duck, 55, 94.

bay, 55.

long-billed, 162.

duck and drake, 94.

ring-billed, 61.

maggot, 186.

lark, 187.

river, 58.

marsh, 156.

pheasant, 38.

Silver-back, 179.

meadow, 156, 176.

pigeon, 161.

Simpes. 157.

mud, 151.

plover, 192.

Simpleton, 182.

prairie, 173.

quail, 186.

Simps, 158.

quail, 161.

robin, 68.

Sickle-bill, 198.

red-bellied, 162.

widgeon, 38.

curlew, 198.

red-breasted, 151, 160.

Sedge-hen, 127.

Skirl crake, 187-

robin, 160, 179.

'Semblymen, 99.

Skunk-bill, 103.

rock, 182.

Semipalmated snipe, 164.

Skunk-head, 103.

semipalmated, 164.

tattler, 164.

Skunk-top, 103.

shore, 191.

Shad-birds, 157.

Sleepy broad-bill, 110.

squat, 176.

Shad spirit, 157.

brother, 111.

stone, 167.

Sharp-tail, 39, 138.

coot, 111.

telltale, 167.

Sharp-tailed duck, 89.

duck, 111.

western red-breasted,

grouse, 138.

Sleepy-head, 111.

162.

Sheldrake, 44, 47, 64, 68.

Sleigh-bell duck, 107.

whistling, 152. '

american, 64.

Small cucu, 169.

white-bellied, 179.

bracket, 65.

curlew, 200, 203.

Wilson's, 156.

buff-breasted, 64.

esquimaxix curlew, 203

winter, 182.

fresh-water, 64.

gray goose, 3.

wood, 152.

great lake, 64.

mud-hen, 129.

yellow-shanks, 169.

hooded, 73.

yellow-leg, 169.

Snites, 157.

little, 73.

yellow-legged plover,

Snow goose, 8, 9.

long island, 68.

170.

greater, 8.

north Carolina, 64.

Smaller doe-bird, 210.

lesser, 8.

pickaxe, 73.

Smee, 38.

Snowl, 74.

INDEX.

Snuffctaker, 103.

Squealer, 91, 196.

Teal, least green- winced,

Somateria dresseri, 91.

Stane-pecker, 187.

28.

Sora, 132.

Steel-head, 112.

mud, 28.

king, 122.

Stib, 182. '

red-headed, 28.

rail, 131.

Stick-tail, 112.

salt-water. 111.

Soree, 132.

Stiff-tail, 112.

scotch, 83.

gallinule, 131.

Stock duck, 16.

spoon-billed. 43.

Sorus, 132.

Stone bird, 167.

summer, 30.

Sou' southerland, 88.

curlew, 165. .

white-faced, 30.

Southerland, 88.

plover, 192.

winter, 28.

Southerly, 88.

raw, 187.

Telltale, 167, 168, 169.

Southern goose, 4.

snipe, 167.

godwit, 167.

sharp - tailed grouse,

Straight-billed curlew,207.

greater, 167.

139.

Strand- birds, 191.

snipe, 167.

spike - tailed grouse,

Strand plover, 192.

tattler, 167.

139.

Streaked-back, 186.

Texas goose, 9.

widgeon, 20.

Striped-head, 201.

prairie hen, 135.

South southerly, 88.

Stub-and-twist, 111.

Three-toed plover, 195.

South south southerly, 88.

Summer, 169.

Timber-doodle, 152.

Spanish curlew, 198.

coot, 123.

Timber grouse, 141.

plover, 165.

duck, 34.

Tippet grouse, 145.

Sparked-back, 186.

sheldrake, 73.

Toad-head, 196.

Sparling fowl, 64.

teal, 30.

Totanus flavipes, 169.

Spatula clypeata, 40.
Speckle-belly, 24.

yellow-lee:, 169.
Surf-duck, 103.

melanoleucus, 166.
Toueh-head, 111.

Speckled brant, 12.

long-billed, 104.

Tow-head, 75.

Speckled-belly, 12.

trowbridge's, 104.

Tree duck, 34, 75.

Speckled-bill coot, 103.

white-winged, 98.

Triddler, 176.

Spectacle coot, 103.

Surfer, 103.

Tringa alpina pacifica,

duck, 103.

Surf scoter, 103.

180.

Spike-bill, 74, 207.

Swaddle-bill, 43.

canutus, 177.

Spike-billed curlew, 207.

Swallow-tailed duck, 87.

maculata, 174.

Spike-tail, 38.

sheldrake, 89.

maritima, 182.

Spindle-tail, 39.

Swamp sheldrake, 64, 73.

Troop-fowl, 55.

Spine-tail, 112.

partridge, 141.

Trout-bird, 196.

Spirit, 81.

Swiss plover, 190.

Tufted-duck, CO.

Spirit-duck, 78, 81.

sandpiper, 190.

Turkey-back, 168.

Splatterer, 117.

Symphemia semipalmata,

Turnstone, 185.

Split-tail, 38.

163.

common, 185.

Spoon-bill, 43, 110.

Tweezer, 65.

Spoon - billed butter ball,

T.

Tympanuchus americanus

110.

TADPOLE, 75.

134.

teal, 43.

Tangle picker, 187.

cupido, 135.

widgeon, 43.

Tattler, bartramian, 172. pallidicinctus, 135.

Spot-rump, 209.

bartram's, 172.

Spotted chicken, 139.

long-legged, 167. u-

grouse, 141.

semipalmated, 164.

UNCLE-sam coot, 99.

plover, 195.
Spreet-tail, 39.

telltale, 167.
varied, 167.

Upland plover, 172.
sandpiper, 172.

Sprig, 38.

yellow-shanks, 169.

Uplander, 172.

Sprig-tail, 38, 138.

Teal, american, 28.

Sprig-tailed widgeon, 39.

american green -

.

Spring sheldrake, 68.

winged, 27.

VARIED tattler, 167.

Spruce grouse, 141.
partridge, 141.
Squam duck, 94.

blue-winged, 30.
brown diving, 112.
common blue-winged,

Variegated plover, 187.
Velvet duck, 98, 99.
scoter, 98.

Squat-snipe, 176.

31.

Velvet-breast, 65.

Squatter, 176.

green-winged, 27.

Virginia rail, 129.

INDEX.

221

Virginian colin, 148.

White-bellv, 20, 139.

Winter duck, 39, 89.

partridge, 148.
quail, 148.

White-bellied snipe, 179.
White-bill, 118.

goose, 3, 4.
rock-bird, 182.

White-faced duck, 30.

sheldrake, 64.

W.

teal, 30.

snipe, 182.

WAMP, 94.

White-flesher, 145.

teal, 28.

Washington canvas-back,

White-fronted goose, 11.

yellow-leg, 168.

61.

White-head, 9, 103.

Wood duck, 34, 75.

Water-chicken, 122.

White-headed goose, 9.

grouse, 141.

Water-hen, 117, 119, 121.

White-rump, 209.

hen, 152.

little american, 131.

White-scop, 103.

partridge, 141.

Water-hens, 118, 119.

White-tail dowitcher, 162.

sheldrake, 73.

Water-partridge, 112.

White-wing, 98.

snipe, 152.

Water-pheasant, 38, 65,74.

White-winged coot, 98.

widgeon, 34.

Water-witch, 82.

scoter, 98.

Woodcock, 151.

Wavey, 9.

surf-duck, 98.

american, 151.

blue, 9.

Widgeon, 20, 24, 34, 39, 54,

great red, 151.

common, 9.

111.

lesser, 151.

Weaser, 65.

american, 20, 55.

little, 151, 156.

sheldrake, 65.

bald-faced, 21.

Wool- head, 83.

Welsh drake, 24.

blue-billed, 54.

Western dowitcher, 162.

California, 20.

Y.

red - breasted snipe,

coot, 111.

YELLOw-bill, 107.

162.

goose, 111.

Yellow-leg, 167, 169.

willet, 165.

gray, 24, 38.

big, 168.

Wexford barnacle, 6.

green-headed, 20.

horse, 168.

Whale-bird, 185.

kite-tailed, 39.

little, 169.

Wheat-duck, 21.

popping, 70.

summer, 169.

Whiffler, 79.

sand, 25.

winter, 168.

Whimbrel,esquimaux,200.

saw-bill, 69.

Yellow - legged godwit,

Whinyard, 44.

sea, 38.

169.

Whistle-duck, 78.

southern, 20.

goose, 12.

Whistle-wing, 78.
Whistler, 69, 78.

spoon-billed, 43.
sprig tailed, 39.

plover, 167, 169.
Yellow-legs, 169.

brass-eyed, 78.

wood, 34.

common, 169.

pied, 78.

Wild drake, 15.

greater, 167.

Whistling coot, 107.

duck, 15.

Yellow - shanks, greater,

duck, 107.

Willet, 164.

167.

plover, 190, 195.

Carolina, 210.

lesser, 169.

snipe, 152.

western, 165.

plover, 167, 169.

White brant, 9.

Will-willet, 164.

snipe, 169.

grouse, 139.
robin-snipe, 178.

Wilson's snipe, 156.
Winter, 168.

tattler, 169.
Yellow-shins, 168, 170.

White-back, 47.

broad-bill, 55.

Yelper, 167.

THE END.

BY HENRY P. WELLS.

Fly-Rods and Fly-Tackle.

Fly-Rods and Fly-Tackle. Suggestions as to their Manu-
facture and Use. By HENRY P. WELLS. Illustrated.
Square Post 8vo, Illuminated Cloth, $2 50.

Mr. Wells's competence to expound the somewhat intricate principles and delicate
processes of fly-fishing will be plain to any reader who himself has some practical ac-
quaintance with the art discussed. The value of the author's instructions and sugges-
tions is signally enhanced by their minuteness and lucidity. — N. Y. Sun.

An illustrated volume, elegantly presented, that will make all anglers jealous of pos-
session until upon their shelf or centre-table. It is a book of suggestion as to the man-
ufacture and use of all kinds of fishing-apparatus. — Boston Commonwealth.

The book is one of great value, and will take its place as a standard authority, and
we cannot commend it too highly. — Forest and Stream, N. Y.

This handsome book ought to delight fishermen, who will read every page and call
for more.— N. Y. Herald.

American Salmon-Fisherman.

The American Salmon-Fisherman. By HENRY P. WELLS.
"With Map and Illustrations. Square Post 8vo, Cloth, $1 00.

The success of Mr. Wells's " Fly-Rods and Fly-Tackle " has made his name familiar
to thousands of American anglers. "The American Salmon-Fisherman," like the for-
mer work, is the fruit of the author's long experience and thoroughly practical knowl-
edge of this subject. The opening chapter tells how and where salmon-fishing may be
obtained, and contains a map and list of the salmon rivers in this country and in Can-
ada. It is followed by chapters on rods, reels, the gaff, flies, and casting the fly. The
text is illustrated throughout, and the value of Mr. Wells's instructions is enhanced by
their minuteness and lucidity, which make them perfectly comprehensible to the merest
novice.

It will be read with interest by professional anglers, and for the vast amount of in-
formation it gives, both as to the best fishing localities and the best methods of taking
fish, it will be found indispensable for amateurs. ... It is a work greatly needed, and
supplies a demand long felt by the disciples of Izaak Walton. — Boston Evening Trav-

PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.

' HARPER & BROTHERS will send either of the above works by mail, postage prepaid, to
any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price.

TWO BOOKS FOR ANGLERS.

Prime's I Go a-Fishing.

I Go a -Fishing. By WILLIAM C. PRIME. Crown 8vo, Cloth,

$2 50.

An admirable piece of literary mosaic. It abounds in fresh descriptions of nature as
breezy and fragrant as the spicy woodlands in which they had their birth. The author
has brought to its composition a rare familiarity with the daintiest products of literature
and art, a passion for curious and out-of-the-way knowledge, extensive and observant
travel in regions remote from the beaten track, and a heart-felt love of Nature in her
hidden ways and sylvan retreats. — JV. Y. Tribune.

A very entertaining and equally instructive volume. On his line he hangs all sorts
of episodical incident, discussion, antique lore, curious bits of philology, poetry, and
story, beguiling the hours on lake and stream with pleasant talk, such as Izaak Walton
or Dr. Bethune indulged in. — Observer, N. Y.

It is a volume that will outlive the summer, and many summers, and be as fresh and
pleasant and suggestive by the fireside as by the brook-side. — Boston Journal.

Romances as interesting and chaste as ever Irving did. — Brooklyn Eagle..

The literary skill is of a high order ; the style is finished and appropriate, while im-
agination and emotion fill out the pictures and give them life. — Presbyterian Quarterly
and Princeton Review.

A scholar of more than usual reading, a traveller who has voyaged far, a Christian of
earnest and orthodox faith, fond of the open air and all manly pursuits, and sympathetic
with the most refined tastes, he purveys in all he writes what is choice to a few and
grateful to many. — Philadelphia American and Gazette.

Hallock's Fishing Tourist.

The Fishing Tourist : Angler's Guide and Reference Book.
By CHARLES HALLOCK, Secretary of the " Blooming Grove
Park Association." Illustrated. Crown 8vo, Cloth, $2 00.

Mr. Charles Hallock is one of the few gentlemen who write a book mainly for the rea-
son that they have something to write about — have something to tell the public which
the public desires to know. Mr. Hallock learned how to use the pen in the exacting
rounds of a newspaper office, and being a traveller, a patient student of nature, and a
practical angler, casting his fly on many waters, he acquired a rich fund of information.
The book is called "The Fishing Tourist," and the title is not a misnomer. The short-
est routes to pleasure are laid down, and correct information is given as to the best
means of conveyance, the expense of the trip, the secrets of the commissariat, etc. The
author has iivoided the use of technical terms, and thus made his volume all the more
acceptable to the majority of readers. — Turf, Field, and Farm, N. Y.

PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.

HARPER & BROTHERS mil send either of the above works by mail, postage prepaid,
to any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price.

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