104 CHECK LIST OF NOBTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



639. Machetes pugnax (L.) Cuv. B 544. c 437. R 554. (!E.) 



Ruff (<) ; Reeve (?). 



640. Bartramia longicauda (Becbst.) Coues. B 545. c 438. R 555. 



Bartramian Tattler. 



641. Tryngites rufescens (V.) Cab. B 546. c 439. R 556. 



Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 



642. Heteroscelus incanus (Gm.) Coues. B 542. c 440. R 553. 



Wandering Tattler. 



643. Numenius longirostris Wils. B 549. c 441. R 558. 



Long-billed Curlew. 



644. Numenius phseopus (L.) Lath. B . c . R 561. (G.) 



European WMmbrel. 



639. Mach-e'-tes pug'-nax. Gr. /iox^T^y, a fighter, combatant, in allusion to the pugnacity of 



the male in the breeding season ; /ua^o/wat, I fight ; /u.a.x' r >< a battle. Lat. pugnax, pugna- 

 cious, combative; pugno, I fight; pugna, a battle; properly, fisticuffs, as the primitive 

 mode of fighting; pugnum, the fist; root pity, whence come the whole set of words, and 

 others, as pygmy, &c. 



640. Bar-tram'-I-a 16n-gl-caud'-a. To William Bartram, " grandfather of American orni- 



thology." The usual generic name, actiturus, is from the Gr. OLKT'IT^S, a doer by the sea, 

 a beach-inhabiter, a " longshoreman," from d/crVj, the seashore, and ovpa, tail. Lat. 

 longus, long, and cauda, tail. 



This is Actiturus bartramius of the orig. ed. See Coues, Bull. Nutt. Club, v, 1880, 

 p. 100. 



641. Tryn'-gl-tes ru-fes'-cens. See Tringa, No. 626. Here we have another form of the word, 



nearer the original Gr. rpvyyas, with the termination -TTJS, -tes ; this suffix commonly 

 denoting active agency, as the English -er, for example, makes work-er from work. 

 Lat. rufescens, present participle of rnfesco, I grow reddish. 



642. Hgt-g-ro'-scSl-us In-can'-us. Gr. eVepoj, opposite, different, otherwise, and <r/ceA.os, the 



leg, shin ; from the peculiar scutellation of the leg. Lat. incanus, very gray, quite 

 hoary, as the bird is : in and canus. 



643. Nu-me'-ni-us 16n-gl-ros'-tris. A curious etymology is this, if the derivation assigned be 



true. Gr. veos, new, young, and p.^v, a month, /j.r)i>rj, the moon; the narrow arcuate bill 

 being likened to the new crescent moon. The same word is seen in meniscus, a kind of 

 lens, but primarily and literally a little moon. But numenius might also be derived 

 directly from numen, a nod, a bending of the head downward and forward (hence assent, 

 command, and hence a divinity, who nods assent or expresses its will by such gesture) ; 

 Gr. veu/j.a, a nod, vtvta, I nod ; very applicable to the attitude of the bird. Whichever 

 of these derivations we approve, they amount to practically the same thing; for numenius 

 certainly refers to the shape of the bill, being used by the ornithologists of the heroic 

 age as synonymous with arquata or arcuata. Lat. longirostris, long-billed ; longus and 

 rostrum. "Curlew" is not an imitation of the bird's voice, but a mangling of the 

 French name cour-h'eu, " run-place," from the coursing of the birds : compare courlis, 

 courly, courlan, cocorli, &c. 



644. N. phae'-6-pus. Gr. <t>ai6s, dark colored, dusky, gray, swarthy ; its exact meaning is 



expressed when we say " gray of the morning : " related to tyaivco, I appear ; irovs, foot. 

 " Whimbrel " is apparently Anglo-Saxon ; related to whim, whimsical, in the sense of 

 nighty, a gad-about. 



Not in the orig. ed. Only North American as a bird of Greenland. 



