PROFESSOR SKEAT 223 



probably saw the bird himself at Ferrara. It is rather a 

 misnomer for the people to have called the Long-billed 

 Curlew Spinzago, for its bill is distinctly blunt and not 

 needle-pointed. Pray let me know when and where you 

 publish your views as to Avosetta, that I may refer to 

 them if occasion should arise. 



Yours very truly, 



Alfred Newton. 



De Avosetta 



Avis hsec, cujus iconum in sequeH pagina damns, apud 

 Malos Ferrarse auosetta (ni fallor) nominatur, nescio qua 

 ratione : & a rostri sursum inflexi figura beccostorta 

 & beccoroella. Lucarni circa lacum Verbanum spinzago 

 d'aqua : nam &; arquata avis jam supra nobis descripta 

 spinzago simpliciter eis nominatur, haec vero aquatica 

 est, & palmipes. 



Conradi Gesneri, Tigurini medici & Philosophiae 

 professoris in Schola Tigurina, " Historiae Animalium," 

 Liber III, qui est de Auium natura (Tiguri : 1555), p. 225. 



The above is the earHest description of the Avosetta, 

 but the same is first mentioned a few pages before (p. 215) 

 in the description of the Arquata or Spinzago simpliciter, 



i.e. the Long-billed Curlew. 



A.N. 



He always spelt the Cuckoo in the old-fashioned 

 manner " Cuckow," and preferred to write the Whooper 

 Swan without the initial " W," for which he had the 

 authority of Professor Skeat : — 



Cambridge, 

 January 4, 1906. 



My dear Newton, 



I think the inconsistency in the spelling of 

 hoof-wJioof is not exactly my own, but due to the per- 

 versity of the English public. The correct form (etymo- 

 logically) is hoop, but you cannot get people (as a rule) 

 to adopt it. But if you have the courage of your opinions 



