CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 85 



493. Elano'ides forficatus (L., 1758) Coues. b 34. c 337. k 426. 



Swallow-tailed Kite. 

 /494. Accipiter fascus (Gm.) Bp. b 17. c 338. R 432. 



Sharp-shinned Hawk ; Pigeon Hawlc. 



495. Accipiter cooperi Bp. b 15, ic. c 339. r 431. 



Cooper's Hawlt; Chicken HaAvk. 



496. Astur atricapillus (Wils.) Bp. b 14. c 340. R 433. 



American Goshawlc. 



497. Astur atricapillus striatulus Ridg. b — . c — . r 433a. (?) 



Western Goshaw^k. 



498. Falco sacer Forst. b — . c 341. r 4126. 



American Continental Gyrfalcon. 



493. El-an-6-i'-des for-fi-ca'-tus, Lat. elamis (see No. 492) and Gr. eUos, resemblance. — For 



forficatus, see Mili-ulus, No. 367. 



This is NaucleTus fttrcatus of the orig. ed. See Coues, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., 

 iv. No. 1, 1878, p. 42. 



494. Ac-cIp'-I-tgr fus'-cus. Lat. accipiter, a general name for a hawk ; accipio, I take, seize ; 



from «(/ and capio: Gr. KaTrrco, of similar meaning. Some, however, derive the word 

 (as it seems to us, fancifully) from actio and peto, i. e., the swift flyer. The root cap- is a 

 very general one for words denoting this idea of taking ; as in English accept, except, 

 captive, capable, capacious, &c. — Lat. fuscus, fuscous, dark-colored. 



495. A. coop'-er-i. To William Cooper, of New York. 



496. As'-tiir a-trl-ca-pil'-lus. Lat. astur, a. hawk; evidently related to aster, a star; asterins, 



starry, J. e., speckled ; French auto»r is the same. The European Goshawk was called 

 Asterias and " Star-hawk " by some of the old ornithologists, and the term acrrepias 

 lepa^ is classic. The Italian is astore or asturo, and some dialectic form of this is said to 

 give the name to the Azores or Azores Islands, from the abundance of hawks there. — 

 For atricapillus, see Parus, No. 44. The word gas- prefixed to hawk is Anglo-Saxon ; 

 goshafoc is goose-hawk; hafoc, and many similar words, are related to faucon, falcon, falco, 

 which see, No. 498. 



497. A. a. stri-a'-tu-lus. Lat. .s<nWif/«s, diminutive of s/na<«s, striate, streaked, striped ; imply- 



ing not the smallness of the streaked object, but the fineness of the stripes themselves. 



Not in the orig. ed. of the Check List. Since described by Eidg., Hist. N. A. B., iii, 

 1874, p. 240. 

 493. Fal'-c6 sa'-cer. Gr. <pa.\Kwv, Lat. falco, a falcon, from the falx, filcis, a sickle, scythe: in 

 allusion to the falcate form of the hooked beak. The English is directly from falco, and 

 the word reappears in many languages : Fr. faucon; Ital.falcone ; Span. /m/con, &c. — The 

 word Gyrfalcon or Jerfalcon has much exercised the ingenuity of the dictionaries. To 

 us the etymology seems clear and indisputable. It is found in many forms, as ger-, gir-, 

 gyr-, giro-, ier-, Her-, and this leads directly to Up6s, divine, sacred, noble, auspicious, 

 chief, &c. ; itpevs, a priest ; whence Upa^, the actual Greek word for a hawk, as used in 

 divination, and therefore sacred. The idea is the same as that in hierarch, &c. The 

 English Gyrfalcon or Jerfalcon is therefore a mere transliteration of Ilicrofalco. In 

 the same spirit, Steenstrup recently made a genus Gyralca for the principal bird of tlie 

 auk tribe, already known in many vernaculars by a corresponding epithet. Speculations 

 respecting (/y?-- as meaning r/yras, a whirl, from the hawk's gyrations, are superfluous. — 

 Lat. sacer sacred, consecrated, sanctified, &c. ; the root sac- is the Greek root 07, as seen 

 in ayios, a.yv6s. 



By the above name we indicate the continental Gyrfalcon of Arctic America, corre- 



