120 CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



766. Stercorarius parasiticus (Brunn.) Gray. B 654. c 541. R 698. 



Parasitic Jager. 



767. Stercorarius buffoni (Boie) Coues. B 655. c 542. R 699. 



Arctic Jager ; Long-tailed Jager. 



768. Lams glaucus Brunn. B 656. c 543. R 660. 



Glaucous Gull. 



769. Larus leucopterus Faber. B 658. c 544. R661. 



White-winged Gull. 



770. Larus glaucescens Licht. B 657, 659. c 545. R 662. 



Glaucous-winged Gull. 



771. Larus marinus L. B eeo. c 546. R 663. 



Great Black-backed Gull. 



772. Larus argentatus Brunn. B . c 547. R 666. 



Herring Gull. 



773. Larus argentatus smithsonianus Coues. B66i.C547a. R 666a. 



Smithsonian Herring Gull. 



the nose ; from the scale-like covering of the nostrils. Temminck, habitually careless 

 in such matters, originally wrote pomcirinus, and we have almost always said " /if/marine " 

 jager, with some vague notion of the sen in the case of this marine bird; but Newton's 

 explanation of the word, as above, is undoubtedly correct. 3*uicr or jaeger is the German 

 for hunter, these birds being habitual hunters and plunderers of the gulls and terns. 

 The name was originally applied to a class of wild huntsmen who lived on the banks of 

 the Rhine, and supported themselves entirely by plunder and robbery. 



766. S. par-a-si'-ti-cus. Gr. Trapcwn-i/cJs, Lat. parasiticus, parasitic ; Gr. irapda-iTos, Lat. para- 



situs, a parasite, from irapd, by the side of, and O-?TOS, grain, food ; literally, one who sits 

 at the table of another ; as we should say now, in vulgar parlance, a " free-luncher," 

 "bummer," " dead-beat " ; hence, in general, any kind of a hanger-on. 



767. S. buf-fon'-I. To Jean Louis Le Clerc, Compte de Buffon, the famous French panegyrist 



of nature, particular friend of Linnaeus, who wrote a great history of birds with the 

 help of the Abbe' de Montbeillard, and caused Daubenton to prepare the' celebrated 

 1008 Planches Enlumine'es. 



768. Lar'-us glau'-ciis. Gr. \dpos, Lat. laws, a gull. Lat. glaucus, glaucous, bluish, y\avic6s. 



See Glautidhim, No. 484. Gull is supposed to be named for its gluttony, from gulo, a 

 glutton (r/nla, the gullet) ; Welsh, gwylan ; Fr., goeland. 



769. L. leu-cop'-ter-us. Gr. \tvic6s, white, and -mepov, wing. 



770. L. glau-ces'-cens. Lat. (decidedly post-classic) gJaucescens, the present participle of a 



suppositions inceptive verb glaucesco, 1 grow bluish ; meaning here somewhat bluish. 



771. L. ma-ri'-nus. Lat. marinus, marine ; mare, the sea. 



772. L. ar-gen-ta'-tus. Lat. argentatus, silvered, silvery ; the participle of an obsolete verb 



argento ; argentum, silver, money, from &pyvpos, silver, apyds, white, the color of the 

 metal. One writer has criticised the use of argentatus to denote a silvery color, arguing 

 that argentatus woulrl mean silvered over, silver-plated, or frosted, and proposed to sub- 

 stitute some other derivative of argentum. But this is hypercriticism ; the word is 

 more apt or fit for the bird than most specific names are. 



773. L. a. smlth-son-T-a'-nus. To the Smithsonian Institution ; this named for James Smiths 



son, illegitimate son of Hugh Percy, Duke of Northumberland. 



