60 CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



532. Aquila chrysaetus (L.) Cuv. B 39. c 361. R 449. 



Golden Eagle. 



533. Haliaetus albicilla (L.) Leach. B 42. c . R 452. (G.) 



White-tailed Eagle; Sea Eagle. 



534. Haliaetus leucocephalus (L.) Savig. B 41, 43. c 302. R 451. 



White-headed Eagle; Bald Eagle. 



535. Polyboms cheriway (Jacq.) Cab. B 45. c 363. R 423. 



Caracara Eagle. 



Harpyice or Harpies were fabulous monsters, embodying the idea of female rapacity as 

 birds of prey, with crooked talons and beak (ap-rrri). 



Not in the orig. ed. of the Check List ; lately ascertained to occur in Texas. See 

 Oswald, Am. Nat., 1878, p. 151 ; and Ridg., Pr. Nat. Mus., iii, 1880, p. 221. 



532. A'-qufl-a chrys-a-e'-tus. Lat. aqitila, an eagle. The etymology is disputed. It is given 



by some, without qualification, as from Gr. UKVS, Lat. acer, odor, sharp, swift, from Jac 

 or y/a&. Some say from aquilus, dark, swarthy ; others, as related to aqnUo, the north 

 wind ; others from Gr. ayKv\os, crooked, hooked, as the bird's beak is: this would corre- 

 spond to the derivation of gryps, ypvty, a griffin, from ypvirds, bent, hook-nosed. It is 

 conjectured, also, from ayKv\r), the curve of the limb, or the curved limb, with which the 

 bird, as Jove's lightning-bearer, grasped the thunder-bolts. Some allied forms of the 

 word, in which g appears instead of the q, as agiiila, aigle, eagle, favor the supposition 

 that the name has something to do with the great wings of the bird. Gr. xp^a-aitros or 

 XpwdeTos, golden eagle ; xP uff ^ s < golden, aer6s, eagle. See Haliaetus, No. 533. 



533. Hal-I-a-e'-tus al-bi-cll'-la. Gr. a\s, genitive a\6s, salt ; the (salt) sea ; and oero's or ay-rAs 



or aleros, an eagle ; there is also the actual Greek' aAiaeros or a\taieTos, for the " sea- 

 eagle," that is, the osprey. There is also the actual Latin transliteration " haliseetos," 

 for the same bird. So many vowels coming together, with such variation in the original 

 Greek, has kept the orthography incessantly fluctuating. Savigny, who was a classical 

 scholar, as well as an ornithologist, originally spelled the genus he founded Haliwetus. 

 This is perfectly correct, in fact, the poetic form, as transliterated from a\ia(eros, with 

 only the usual and proper change of Greek at into Latin ce. Many purists keep to this 

 spelling, which is perfectly defensible, and has the advantage of being that used by the 

 founder of the genus. But, as Haldeman remarks, however desirable Haliccetus may be 

 in poetical writing, it is more consonant with a strict scientific spirit to simplify the 

 word into Haliaetus, deriving it in this case from aerds or OTTO'S. We accept and adopt this 

 form upon such understanding. Having settled this, the next question arises respecting 

 the quantity of the vowels, and accentuation of the syllables. If derived from aerrfs, 

 the word would be HaHd'elm ; if from drjro's, it would be Haliae'lus. We prefer the latter. 

 In any event, the form "Haliaetus," in four syllables, is inadmissible: the word must 

 have at least five syllables. But ornithologists may be forgiven for anything in this 

 case, seeing that the grammarians have disputed it for some centuries. Lat. albicilla, 

 white-tailed. See Motacilla, No. 86. 



This species, though frequently attributed to North America, has of late years been 

 dropped. It is now restored, on the strength of its occurrence in Greenland, though not 

 elsewhere in North America that we know of. Not in the orig. ed. of the Check List. 



534. H. leu-co-cgph'-a-lus. Gr. \evit6s, white, and Kf<pa\-fi, head. 



535. P61-y'-b6r-us cheriway. Gr. iro\vp6pos, eating a great deal, very voracious. Cheriway 



and Caracara are both barbarous words, the meaning of which we know not : from some 

 South American dialect. 



This stands in the orig. ed. as P. lharus var. auduboni. 



