[ganong] identity OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS 213 



Courlieux, or Courlis. — French name for the Curlew extended to the ATmer- 

 ican species. Used first by Champlain in 1604, then by Lescarbot as 

 courlis. But Denys used the name corbigeau for the same bird, as Is 

 proven by the fact that the Acadians thus use the name to this day 

 (fide A. C. Smith). Littré gives the word Corbcjeau or Corbigeau as 

 used for the Curlew in France. LaHontan has Vourbeios. The apparent 

 confusion in the two words is solved by Professor Dionne, who says 

 the Canadian French call the Hudsonian Curlew Le Vourlis, and the 

 Eskimo Curlew Vorbigeati. 



Coutelier, or Coutelliere. — French name for Razor Clam, transferred to the 

 Acadian species. Used first by Denys. 



Crab. — See Crappe. 



Crapaud, or Crapau. — French word for the Toad, applied by Lescarbot as 

 Crapaii, to an Acadian form, evidently the Common Toad of Acadia. 



Crappe. — Used by Lescarbot for a Shellfish; no doubt a form of the French 

 name Crabe, a general name for Crab. Lescarbot applied it without 

 doubt to the very common Rock Crab, the moat conspicuous and 

 abundant Crab of Acadia. Parkhurst, in 1578, reported Crabs from 

 Newfoundland, no doubt also this species. 



Cravan, or Gravant. — Early French name for the Barnacle Goose of Europe, 

 transferred to its nearest American representative, the Brant. Used 

 by Denys, whose description makes its identity certain. The name, 

 however, has not persisted, for it is unknown to both the Canadian 

 and the Acadian French, the latter of whom call the bird bernaishe, or 

 berneche, (fide A. C. Smith), which is simply another French name 

 for the Barnacle Goose. 



Croiseurs. — French name meaning Crossers, applied descriptively by the early 

 French fishermen to Wilson's Petrel, also called Stormy Petrel or 

 Mother Gary's Chickens. Used by Denys,, whose description makes its 

 identity plain. 



CuJ-blanc. — French name, meaning White tail, for the European Wheatear. 

 Used for a water-bird of Acadia by Dieréville. The American Wheatear, 

 or Stonechat, is a northern bird reaching Acadia only as a straggler, and 

 Dieréville may have meant some other water bird to which the name 

 would apply descriptively. 



Cygne. — See Signe. 



Cyprez, or Cypres. — French name for the true Cypress, which does not occur 

 in America, transferred to a different tree, the Arbor vitae, or White 

 Cedar, of Canada, by Champlain in 1603, and to the Red Cedar of 

 New England in 1605. Later he called the "W'hite Cedar Cedrc blanc. 

 The early English voj'agers (Haie, 1583) also used the name Cypresse 

 in the same way. Cartier, in 1534, used Cedre for this tree. The name 

 is now applied by the Canadian French to the Banksian Pine, according 

 to l'Abbé Provancher, which is confirmed by a note in Grenfell's Lab- 

 rador, page 192. 



