CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 93 



551. Starnoenas cyanocephalus (L.) Bp. B 455. c 377. R 468. 



Blue-headed Pigeon. 



552. Ortalis vetula maccalli (Bd.) B 456. c 378. R 469. 



Texan Guau. 



553. Meleagris gallipavo L. B 458. c 379. R 470. 



Domestic Turkey ; Mexican Turkey. 



554. Meleagris gallipavo americana (Bartr.) Coues. B 457. C 379a. R 470a. 



Common Wild Turkey of the United States. 



555. Canace canadensis (L.) Bp. B 460. c sso. R 472. 



Canada Grouse ; Spruce Partridge. 



556. Canace canadensis franklini (Dougl.) Coues. B 461. c ssoa. R 472a. 



Franklin's Spruce Partridge. 



557. Canace obscura (Say) Bp. B 459. c ssi. R 471. 



Dusky Grouse. 



558. Canace obscura richardsoni (Dougl.) Coues. B . c ssia. R 4716. 



Richardson's Dusky Grouse. 



551. Star-noe'-nas cy-an-6-cgph'-a-lus. From 1 (probably Italian; Agassiz gives 



Starna as a proper name), and Gr. olvds, Lat. anas, the vine : also, a kind of pigeon ; cenas 

 seems to have been transferred to the pigeon, as cenanthe was to some other bird ; see 

 Saxicola, No. 26. The oivds of Aristotle is Colamba livia L. Gr. Kva.v6s, cyanus, blue, 

 and K(pa\-fi, head. 



552. Or'-tal-is vSt'-u-la mac-cal'-H. Gr. 6pra\ls, a pullet, a kind of quail. This word 



was universally written ortalida, until Mr. Wharton showed that the way Merrem, 

 writing Latin, construeted the sentence in which the word first occurs made it the accu- 

 sative case ; arguing hence that Merrem meant to found a genus ortalis, not ortalida. 

 See Ibis, October, 1879, p. 450. The Rev. Mr. Avery's MS. in our possession makes 

 the same correction, though without comment. Lat. vetula, a little old woman ; derisive 

 diminutive from vetus, old, veteran ; digammated from Gr. eras, a year. To General 

 George A. McCall, U. S. Army. 



553. Mgl-e-ag'-rls gal-H-pa'-v5. Gr. fj.e\ea.-yp(s, Lat. meleacjris, a guinea-hen ; literally, a field- 



tender, farmer; from yu.eA.ei, relating to the care of a thing, and aypos, a field. The word not 

 transferred from the African Nnmida to the American Turkey until near the middle of 

 the 16th century, and occasionally confounded for many years after that. Meleager 

 or MeAeaypJj was a mythical person who suffered a cruel fate : his sisters, the Meleayrides, 

 who bitterly lamented his death, were changed into guinea-hens ; the profusely-spotted 

 plumage of which gives evidence of the tears they shed for him. Lat. gallipavo, usually 

 written (jallopavo, a very late combination of yallus, a cock, and jiaro, a pea-fowl, bird of 

 Juno ; the latter word from the Gr. raws or raws or rauv, a pea-fowl. 



554. M. g. am-er-i-ca'-na. Of America. 



555. Can'-a-ce ca-na-den'-sls. Canace, a proper narne ; she lived in incest with her brother; 



application not obvious, unless referring in a general way to the polygamy of gallina- 

 ceous birds. 



This and following species are given as Tetmo in the orig. ed. ; but may be properly 

 separated generically from Tetrao uroga/ius. 



556. C. c. frank'-lin-i. To Sir John Franklin, of Arctic fame and sorrow. 



557. C. ob-scu'-rus. Lat. obscitrus, obscure, i. e., dark-colored. 



558. C. o. rlch'-ard-s6n-l. To Sir John Richardson, often already mentioned in this List. 



