CHECK LIST OF NOETII AMERICAN BIRDS. 85 



493. Elano'ides forficatus (L., 1758) Coues. B 34. c 337. K 426. 



Swallow-tailed Kite. 



494. Accipiter fuscus (Gm.) Bp. B 17. c 338. R 432. 



Sharp-shinned Hawk ; Pigeon Ha\vk. 



495. Accipiter cooperi Bp. B 15, 10. c 339. R 431. 



Cooper's Hawk; Chicken Hawk. 



496. Astur atricapillus (Wils.) Bp. B 14. c 340. R 433. 



American Goshawk. 



497. Astur atricapillus striatulus Ridg. B . c . R 433a. (?) 



Western Goshawk. 



498. Falco sacer Forst. B . c 341. R 4126. 



American Continental Gyrfalcon. 



o 



493. El-an-o-I'-des for-fi-ca'-tus. Lat. elanus (see No. 402) and Gr. eTSos, resemblance. For 



forficatus, see Milvulus, No. 367. 



This is Nauclerus furcatus of the orig. ed. See Coues, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., 

 iv, No. 1, 1878, p. 42. 



494. Ac-clp'-i-ter fus'-cus. Lat. accipiter, a general name for a hawk ; accipio, I take, seize ; 



from ad and capio: Gr. Kawrca, of similar meaning. Some, however, derive the word 

 (as it seems to us, fancifully) from acuo and peto, i. e., the swift flyer. The root cap- is a 

 very general one for words denoting this idea of taking ; as in English accept, except, 

 captive, capable, capacious, &c. Lat.J'uscus, fuscous, dark-colored. 



495. A. coop'-gr-I. To William Cooper, of New York. 



496. As'-tur a-trl-ca-pfl'-lus. Lat. astur, a hawk; evidently related to aster, a star; asterias, 



starry, i.e., speckled; French autour is the same. The European Goshawk was called 

 Asterias and " Star-hawk " by some of the old ornithologists, and the term atrrepias 

 j'e'paf is classic. The Italian is astore or asturo, and some dialectic form of this is said to 

 give the name to the A9ores or Azores Islands, from the abundance of hawks there. 

 For atricapillus, see Parus, No. 44. The word yos- prefixed to hawk is Anglo-Saxon ; 

 yoshafoc is goose-hawk; /tafoc, and many similar words, are related to faitcon, falcon, falco, 

 which see, No. 498. 



497. A. a. stri-a'-tu-lus. Lat. striatulus, diminutive of striatus, striate, streaked, striped; imply- 



ing not the smallness of the streaked object, but the fineness of the stripes themselves. 



Not in the orig. ed. of the Check List. Since described by Ridg., Hist. N. A. B., iii, 

 1874, p. 240. 



498. Fal'-co sa'-cer. Gr. (pd\K(av, Lat.y<//co, a falcon, from the falx, falcis, a sickle, scythe: in 



allusion to the falcate form of the hooked beak. The English is directly f rom falco, and 

 the word reappears in many languages : Fr.fntcon ; It&l.falcone ; Span, halcon, &c. The 

 word Gyrfalcon or Jcrfalcon lias much exercised the ingenuity of the dictionaries. To 

 us the etymology seems clear and indisputable. It is found in many forms, as rjer-, gir-, 

 gyr-, giro-, ier-, Her-, and this leads directly to iepds, divine, sacred, noble, auspicious, 

 chief, &c. ; lepevs, a priest; whence itpa, the actual Greek word for a hawk, as used in 

 divination, and therefore sacred. The idea is the same as that in hicrarch, &c. The 

 English Gyrfalcon or Jerfalcon is therefore a mere transliteration of HicrojWco. In 

 the same spirit, Steenstrup recently made a genus Gyralca for the principal bird of the 

 auk tribe, already known in many vernaculars by a corresponding epithet. Speculations 

 respecting c/y?-- as meaning gyms, a whirl, from the hawk's gyrations, are superfluous. 

 Lat. sacer sacred, consecrated, sanctified, &c. ; the root sac- is the Greek root 07, as seen 

 in aytos, ayvds. 



By the above name we indicate the continental Gyrfalcon of Arctic America, corre- 



