GREYBACK— GROSBEAK 385 



throughout the Indo-Malay Archipelago to Australia. It has also 

 been recorded from North America, but its appearance there must 

 be considered accidental. Almost as bulky as a Woodcock, it is of 

 a much more slender build, and its long legs and neck give it a 

 graceful appearance, which is enhanced by the activity of its 

 actions. Disturbed from the moor or marsh, where it has its nest, 

 it rises swiftly into the air, conspicuous by its white back and rump, 

 and uttering shrill cries flies round the intruder. It will perch on 

 the topmost bough of a tree, if a tree be near, to watch his pro- 

 ceedings, and the cock exhibits all the astounding gesticulations in 

 which the males of so many other Limicolee indulge during the 

 breeding-season — with certain variations, however, that are peculiarly 

 its own. It breeds in no small numbers in the Hebrides, and parts 

 of the Scottish Highlands from Argyllshire to Sutherland, as well 

 as in the more elevated or more northern districts of Norway, 

 Sweden, and Finland, and probably also from thence to Kamchatka. 

 In North America it is represented by two species, Totanus semipal- 

 matus and 2\ melanoleueus, there caUed Willets, Telltales, or 

 Tattlers, which in general habits resemble the Greenshank of the 

 Old World. 



GREYBACK, in England a common name of the Grey form of 

 Crow, Corvus corniz ; but in North America applied by gunners to 

 the Knot. 



GREYHEN, the female of the Blackcock or Black Grouse. 



GRIFFON (Fr. Chiffon, Lat. Grvyphus, Gr. ypvxp — a fabulous 

 monster with a hooked beak, an Eagle's wings, and a Lion's body) the 

 name applied in 1666 by certain French academicians to a VuLTURE, 

 which they dissected, and continued by BufFon for what is now 

 known as Gyps fukus, being finally adopted as its English dis- 

 tinctive name by Bennett in 1831 {Gard. and Menag. Zool. Soc. ii. 

 p. 97).i 



GRINDER, one of the names given in Australia to Sisura 

 inquieta, a form very similar to Ehipidwm (Fantail) and like that 

 generally assigned to the Muscicapidce (Flycatcher). Caley noticed 

 {Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. p. 250), the resemblance of the noise made 

 by this bird, though how it is produced is not said, to that caused 

 by a razor-grinder at work, and Gould adds (Handb. B. Austral, i. 

 p. 247), on Gilbert's authority, that its general note is a loud harsh 

 cry, several times repeated, but it also utters a clear whistle. Its 

 flight is very remarkable, and its habit of hovering, at which time 

 is caused the sound that gives it this name, very peculiar. 



GROSBEAK (French, Groshec), a name very indefinitely applied 



^ The GriflBn of heraldry is the same word, but that is represented with Bat- 

 like wings. 



25 



