CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 83 



-480. Surnia funerea (L.) Rich. & Sw. B 62. c 326. R 407. 

 American Hawk Owl. 



481. Surnia funerea ulula (L.) Ridg. B — . c — . R 407. (?) (!a.) 



European Hawk Owl. 



-482. Nyctala tengmalmi richardsoni (Bp.) Ridg. b 55. Co27. r 400. 



Richardson's Owl. 



483, Nyctala acadica (Gm.) Bp. b 56, 57. c 328. R 401. 



Acadian Owl ; Saw-wliet OwL 



484. Glaucidium gnoma Wagl. b 60. c 329. r 409. 



Pygmy Owl. 



480. Sur'-ni-a fu-nS'-ri-a. Surnia and Syrnium are forms of the same word, the meaning and 



derivation of which are alike unknown to us; we follow Newton in using the former; 

 see Sund., Tent., p. 104. — Lat. funereus, funereal ; from funus, a funeral, burial pro- 

 cession. Applicable to an owl, either regarded as a bird of ill omen, or with reference to 

 its dismal cry, as if wailing tlie dead. 



This stands Surnia ulula hudsoiiica in the orig. ed. Names of owls are "confusion 

 worse confounded." See Ridg. Pr. Nat. Mus., ii, 1880, p. 8. 



481. S. f. ul-ul-a. Lat. ulula, a, Plinian name of the screech-owl; ululo, Gr. oA.oA.^C'o, I howl, hal- 



loo, make a "huUaballoo"; all onomatopoeic. Compare also the Hebrew, ?;n, whence 

 halleluyxh. 



Not in the orig. ed. The old world Hawk Owl, at best hardly distinguishable from 

 the American, is stated to occur in Alaska as a straggler from Asia ; and all the Hawk 

 Owls of Great Britain are said to be of the American variety. The case itself is as 

 perplexing as its nomenclature is involved. 



482. Nyc'-ta-la teng'-mal-mi rich'-ard-s6n-i. Gr. vvktuXos or vvarraKos, drowsy, sleepy. See 



Nyctea, No. 479, for basis of tlie word. — To P. G. Tengmalm, a Swedish naturalist. — To 

 Sir John Richardson, the English naturalist. 



483. N. a-cad'-i-ca. To Acadia, or Acadie, a locale now in Maine, scene of Longfellow's 



" Evangeline." 



484. Glau-cid'-I-iim gno'-ma. There is a Greek word 7A.au/c1Siov, but that is some kind of fish, 



not a bird. It is, however, related to yXavi,, which means an owl. There is also an 

 adjective yKavKtih-ns, from 7A.0DI and elSos, from which Glaucidium may be modified. 

 The allusion in all these cases is to the eyes of the bird ; if not in color, then in the 

 general aspect and expression of these remarkable organs of vision. Tliere being actu- 

 ally no owls with Hue eyes, as yKavKos, (jlaucus, is commonly translated, the direct impli- 

 cation is probably to the owl as the bird of wisdom, sacred to Minerva, -yXavKwins being 

 one of the most familiar Homeric epithets of the " blue-eyed " goddess. Such may 

 therefore be the meaning of yXav^, without reference to the color of the bird's own eyes. 

 — The word gnoma is very pat for an owl, and especially interesting in such application. 

 Gr. yvoina, an opinion, decision ; yviifxr), reason ; yi>ii/j.wv, a judge, arbiter ; all from yiyvaxTKw, 

 I know ; whence also gnostic, and the very English word hiow, with countless related 

 forms, all rooted in the idea of knowledge. Hence gnoma is apt for the bird of Minerva, 

 goddess of wisdom, and is given just as Athene was made a similar epithet. Further- 

 more, the English word gnome, by which we may directly translate gnoma in this case, is 

 from the same root, meaning etymologically "the knowing one," "one who arbi- 

 trates certain destinies " : by metonymy, a kind of sprite or elf presiding over mines. 

 Gnoma is thus an eligible epithet of a bird which combines a reputation for wisdom 

 with certain superstitions connected with the gnome-like or goblin-like quality of its 

 knowingness. 



