CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 105 



645. Numenius hudsonicus Lath. B 550. c 442. R 559. 



Hudsoiiian Curlew. 



646. Numenius borealis (Forst.) Lath. B 551. c 443. R 560. 



Eskimo Curlew. 



647. Numenius taitensis (Gm.) Lath. B . c 442tis. R 562. (!A.) 



Otahiti Curlew. 



648. Tantalus loculator L. B 497. c 444. R soo. 



Wood Ibis. 



649. Plegadis falcinellus (L.) Kaup. B soo. c 445. R 503. 



Glossy Ibis. 



650. Plegadis guarauna (L.) Riclg. B . c 445&is, 445/er. R 504. 



White-faced Glossy Ibis. 



651. Eudocimus albus (L.) Wagl. B 499. c 446. R 501. 



White Ibis. 



645. N. hud-son'-I-cus. To Hudson's Bay, after Henry Hudson. 



646. N. bSr-g-a'-Hs. Lat. borealis, northern ; boreas, the northwind. 



647. N. ta-T-ten'-sTs. Of Otaheite, one of the Society or Friendly Islands. The original orthog- 



raphy, tahitiensis, is resolvable into the above, which is less barbarous in sound and look. 

 Though named for the island called in English Otaheite, or better Otahiti, the first syl- 

 lable is to be dropped as being merely the definite article the. It is the native name 

 O-tahiti, ^e-island; i. e., the principal island. 



This is N.femoralis, Peale, of the orig. ed., Appendix. 



648. Tan'-tal-us 16-cu-la ; -t6r. Gr. To^raAos, Tantalus, the Phrygian king, who, admitted to 



the councils of the gods, betrayed their secrets, and was tormented, " tantalized," with 

 food and water in sight but unattainable. Lat. focus, a place; hculus, a little place, 

 division, compartment ; loculatus or loculosus, furnished with compartments, full of 

 " pigeon-holes " ; but qu. loculator and its application to this bird ? 



649. Ple'-ga-dis fal-cln-el'-lus. Gr. ir\r)yds, a scythe, sickle, from Tr^a-aw or TTA^TTW, I strike. 



The actual form, Plegadis, may be a diminutive ; if so, it is exactly Greek for the quasi- 

 Latin falcinellus, falcicula, or falcunculus, a little scythe, small hook ; falx, a reaping-hook 

 or any thing of that falcate shape, as the bill of this bird is. See Falco, No. 498. 



This stands in the orig. ed. as Ibis falcinellus var. ordii. But it has proved to be not 

 satisfactorily distinguished from the European form ; while as to the generic designa- 

 tion, see Ibis, 1878, p. 112. 



650. P. gu-a-rau'-na. A barbarous word, of some South American (Brazilian) dialect. It 



occurs as such in Marcgrave and other early ornithologists. 



This stands as Ibis guarauna in the orig. ed. ; see No. 649. The Ibis thafassimts of 

 Ridg., Am. Nat., viii, 1874, p. 110, inserted in the Appendix of the orig. ed. as No. 445 ter, 

 proves to be the young of this species : see Coues, Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Surv. 

 Terr., iv, No. 1, 1878, p. 57. 



651. Eu-dSc'-I-mus al'-bus. Gr. tv56><i/j.os, well-tried; hence, approved, famous, of high 



repute : from ew, well, and SUKI/UOS, assayed and found acceptable ; Ss'xo/xcu, I accept. 

 The ibis or ?j3is of the ancients (not this species) was a celebrated and sacred bird; it 

 was the Egyptian bird, now called Ibis cetlnopica. Lat. albus, white. 

 This is Ibis alba in the orig. ed. See Elliot, Ibis, 1877, p. 482. 



