50 CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



•212. Chrysomitris pin-as (Bartr.) Bp. b 317. c 148. r 185. 



^y^ Pine Linnet; American Siskin. 



213. Astragalinns tristis (L.) Cab. B 3i3, c 149. k 181. 

 American Goldfinch. 



,214. Astragalinns lawrencii (Cass.) Coues. B 316. c 150. R 183. 

 y*^ Lawrence's Goldfinch. 



215. Astragalinns psaltria (Say) Coues. B 314. c I5i. R 182. 



Arkansaw Goldfinch. 



216. Astragalinns psaltria arizonse Coues. b — . c isia. r i82a. 



Arizona Goldfinch. 



212. Chry-s6-mi'-tris pi'-nus. Gr. xp^coM'"''/"^. having a golden head-dress or girdle ; xp"<''e<'s. 



golden, and /j-irpa, a mitre. There are other forms of the word, varying in the vowels, as 

 XpvffoiJ.iTpr]s and xP"<''°M'>'pis. The latter, which occurs in Aristotle, is translated uurivittis 

 by Gaza ; as Sundwall remarks, heightening the probability that it is the same word as 

 XpvffofxiTpTis, and is based upon the bright appearance of the European Goldfinch, F. 

 cardutlis L. — Some other names of classic origin for the Goldfinch and its relatives may 

 be here conveniently noted. Aristotle had three species of " Acantliophaga " as he called 

 them ; i. e., birds living upon prickly plants ; as we should say, " thistle-birds." 1. One 

 of these was the dpavwis or 0\viris, concerning which see GeotJili/pis, No. 141. 2. The 

 XpvffofxriTpis, as just said. 3. His uKavOls, which was undoubtedly the Fring'dla canna- 

 bina L. This in Latin becomes splnus, of late years taken as the specific name of F. 

 spinus L. — The exact Latin of "thistle-bird" is carduells, occurring in Pliny; it is from 

 carduus, a thistle, and reappears in numerous shapes ; as Ital. carduello, cardello ; carduelino, 

 cardelUno (compare Cardellina, No. 150), and also gardcllo axiA gardeUino ; Fr. chardonneret, 

 &c. Aristotle speaks of the sharp voice of his uKavdis — Xiyvpd ; whence Ugurinus, another 

 of the many names for birds of this kind. So have we later derived siskm from the 

 sharp note; Swedish siska, Dutch sijsken, Germ, ijicfig, Polish czi/z, &c. — Another Greek 

 name for some kind of thistle-bird, perhaps the European Goldfinch, is aa-rpayaXlvos, in 

 1850 applied by Cabanis to the American Goldfinch, as a generic term : see next word. 

 — Lat. pinus, a pine-tree. 



213. As-tra-ga-li'-nus tris'-tis. Gr. a.<TTpaya\7vos is given by Cabanis as the word, and as a 



name of a thistle-bird ; it is evidently an adjectival form from aa-rpdyaAos, a die, one 

 of the ankle-bones, and also, in Dioscorides, the name of some kind of plant ; whence 

 the modern botanical genus Astragalus. The original application of acrrpayaX^vos is 

 undoubtedly to some bird that lived upon, or frequented, the plant in mention, its recent 

 transference to an American Goldfinch being of course arbitrary. When the present 

 species was first described it was called chardonneret de V Ame'rique, i. e., carduelis ameri- 

 cana: see No. 212. — Lat. tristis, sad, in allusion to the plaintive cry of the bird. 



214. A. law-rgn'-ci-i. To George N. Lawrence, of New York, the eminent ornithologist. 



215. A. psal'-trl-a. See explanation of Psaltriparus, No. 53. Psaltria is not a Lat. adj. 



to be made agreeable in gender with Astragalinns, but a Greek noun, \f/d\Tpta, signifying 

 a female lutist. "Arkansaw" is not, as it would seem to be, "Kansas" with a prefix, 

 nor is it the name by which the aborigines of that country knew themselves ; nor is 

 " Kansas " the right name of any tribe of Indians. The meaning of neither of these 

 words is known. " Arkansaw " is preferable to Arkansas, as nearer the original 

 " Arkanso." 



216. A. p. a-rl-z6'-nae. Named after the Territory of Arizona, where discovered in 1864. 



See Peuccea, No. 253. 



