Names And Portraits Of Birds Which Interest Gunners, With Descriptions In Languages Understanded Of The People

The cuckoo and the gowk, The laverock and the lark, The twire-snipe, the weather-bleak How many birds is that liiddlerhyme - 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 ma, ny 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 folIowing 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 writer 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 explicit in assigning names to individuallocalities, but I believe that upon a more mature consideration they mill 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 inales 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 Iiooded Merganser, Hudsonian Godwit, Eartramian 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 mere to some extent different from those of to- day. But, though Use may revive the obsoletest word, And banish those that now are most in vogue, our gunners have, as a rule, proved themselves a very conserv 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 mould remind any who may think it unwise, or idle, to record provincialisins so simple and apparently unmeaning as some of these, that such a view of the subjectis itself a provincialism most unreasonable. Names which appear to us absurdly grotesque 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 sport, but for their daily bread, should command respect. It is just now painfully popular to misrepresent and malign the sosd pot-hunters yet these dear old fellomstaught us pretty ...