IGANONGJ IDENTITY OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS 237 



Ronces. — French name for Brambles, applied by Denys to those of Acadia, 

 which probably included blackberries and other plants of the genus 

 Rubus. The word is thus used by the French Canadians, according 

 to l'Abbé Provancher. 



Roquette. — Name of a water-bird mentioned by Lescarbot; the name, no 

 doubt, is a shortened form of Perroquet — the Sea Parrot or Puffin. 



Rose. — French name for the Rose, extended to those of America. Cartier, 

 in 1534, spoke of rosses de Provins, and roses rouges, which were, of 

 course the comm.on Wild Roses of Eastern Canada, of which there 

 are several species. Lescarbot speaks of roses muscades, or musk- 

 roses, meaning one of the common species. 



Rossignol. — French name for the Nightingale of Europe, transferred to the 

 American Song Sparrow. Used first by Cartier, in 1535 in the form 

 roussignolz, and then by Champlain, in 1603, and by Lescarbot, though 

 neither give data for ideitification. I am told, however, by Professor 

 Dionne that the Canadian French apply Rossignol to the Song Spar- 

 row, and a description sent me by Dr. A. C. Smith of the bird so called 

 . by the Acadians agrees perfectly with this identification. There is a 

 vast difference, it is true, between the Nightingale of France and the 

 Song Sparrow of Canada as Le Clercq, in 1691, clearly pointed out, 

 but in the total absence of the former it is not unnatural that its 

 name should have been applied by the early voyagers to the most 

 cheery harbinger of the East-Canadian Spring. The name Rossignol, 

 however, was also given to a mammal, the Whistling Marmot or 

 Woodchuck (compare Le Jeune's Relation, and Thwaites' Note thereon). 



Sapin. — French name for the European Fir, extended to the Amercian species. 

 Used first by Champlain in 1603, and by all writers thereafter. Cartier 

 seems not to use the word, though he does use pruche. Champlain, and 

 later Denys, use Sapin in a generic sense, to include all the trees which 

 the English commonly group under Spruce, viz., the three true species 

 of Spruce, the Balsam Fir, and probably also the Hemlock; but they 

 sometimes separated out the Prjisse, the large timber spruce, just as 

 the English sometimes separate out the Fir from their " Spruce," 

 Denys made some attempt, though with indifferent success, to dis- 

 tinguish the species of Sapin. The name is now used by the Canadian 

 French for the balsam fir, according to l'Abbé Provancher, who also 

 shows that the true spruces are called Epinette. Thwaites is therefore 

 wrong in translating (in his Hennepin I, 73) the latter word as Hem- 

 lock. 



Sarcelle, or Cercelle. — French name for the Teal of Europe, without distinc- 

 tion of species, transferred to the American species. Used first by 

 Denys. Earlier writers no doubt included them under Canards, 'brt 

 Ducks. 



Sacre. — Name of a bird mentioned by Lescarbot, and by Champlain (among 

 birds of prey) in his list of 1632. It is the French name of the Saker 

 Hawk of Europe, which does not occur in this country. A note in 

 Newton's Dictionary of Birds shows that in America the bird has been 



Sec. II., 1!)09. 17. 



