CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 115 



724. Fulignla vallisneria (Wils.) Steph. B 592. c 504. R 617. 



Canvas-back. 



725. Clangula glaucium (L.) Brehm. B 593. c 505. R 020. 



Golden-eye. 



726. Clangula islandica (Gm.) Bp. B 594. c 506. R 619. 



Barrow's Golclen-eye. 



727. Clangnla albeola (L.) Steph. B 595. c 507. R 621. 



Buffle-liead ; Butter-ball ; Spirit Duck. 



728. Harelda glacialis (L.) Leach. B 597. c 508. R 623. 



Long-tailed Duck; Old Wife. 



729. Camptolaemiis labradorius (Gm.) Gr. B eoo. c 509. R 624. 



Labrador Duck. 



730. Histrionicus minntus (L.) Coues. B 596. c 510. R 622. 



Harlequin Duck. 



724. F. val-lis-ner'-i-a. Vallisneria is a genus of aquatic plants, the wild celery, V. spiralis L., 



named for Antoine Vallisner, a French botanist. The name was applied to the bin! 

 from its fondness for this plant as food. The name canvas-back, from the peculiar 

 coloration of the upper parts, is an Americanism which lias been in use at least since 

 1800. (e.g., see Barton, Med. and Phys. Journ., pt. i, vol. ii, 1805, p. 101.) 



725. Clan'-gu-la glau'-ci-um. Lat. dnnr/ttla, diminutive of claiyor, a clang, noise; the corre- 



sponding Gr. K\a.yy>i means particularly the outcry of wild animals ; /cAao>, future 

 K\dyt,ta, I cry out. It was applied to this bird several centuries ago. Gr. y\avKiov or 

 y\avKiov, a kind of wild duck, perhaps this very species. Under the varying forms of 

 glaucion, glaucium, glaucius, and glaucia, it has been definitely applied to this duck for 

 more than three centuries. 



728. C. Is-land'-i-ca. To Iceland. See Falco, No. 500. 



727. C. al-be'-6-la. Diminutive (irregular) form of albus, white: albula would be better form. 



"Buffle-head" is a corruption of buffalo-head, from the puffiness of the head: "butter- 

 ball " from the fatness of the bird at times : " spirit duck," from the quickness of diving. 



728. Har-el'-da gla-cT-a'-lis. Harelda is a nonsense-word, invented by Leach. Lat. (jlacinlis, 



glacial, icy, relating to ice; glades, ice. (Unde derivatur 1 cf. Gr. yXavKos.) 



729. Camp-to-laem'-us lab-ra-do'-ri-us. Gr. Ka.iJ.vr6s, flexible, as leather is, for instance ; 



Ka.jj.irca, I bend; and \at/j.6s, the throat; but the whole word refers to the soft leathery 

 expansion of the bill, as if Camptorhynchug, for which latter word, preoccupied in zoology, 

 it was proposed as a substitute. To Labrador ; which name is said to have been given 

 to the country by the Spaniards, it being considered cultivable, as Greenland was not; 

 Span, labrado, cultivated land; lubrador, laborer; labrar, to work. 



730. His-trI-6'-m-cus mi-nu'-tus. Lat. Instrionicus, histrionic, relating to histrio, a stage- 



player ; because the bird is tricked out in various colors, as if it were dressed to play 

 some part on the stage. The word is related in the most interesting manner to historia, 

 history, and histology, the science of tissues of the body ; the idea being the weaving 

 together of things, to make, as history, a connected account, as in histology, a tissue of 

 organs. We still say, for example, a tissue of falsehood, &c. These words are all 

 related to ivrAs, a loom, or the web woven on it. 



