104 CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



639. Machetes pugnax (L.) Cuv. b 544. c 437. R 554. (!e.) 



RuflF(c?^); Reeve (9). 



640. Bartramia longicauda (Bechst.) Coues. b 545. c 438. R 555. 



Bartramian Tattler. 



641. Tryngites rufescens (V.) Cab. b 546. c 439. R 556. 



Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 



642. Heteroscelus incanus (Gm.) Coues. B 542. c 440. R 553. 



Wandering Tattler. 



643. Numenius longirostris Wils. b 549. c 441. r 558. 



Long-billed Curlew. 



644. Numenius phaeopus (L.) Lath. B — . c — . R 561. (G.) 



European Whimbrel. 



639. Mach-e'-tes pug'-nax. Gr. ^ax'7Ti7s, a fighter, combatant, in allusion to the pugnacity of 



the male in tiie breeding season ; fxaxoixai, I fight ; fidxn, a battle. — Lat. pugnax, pugna- 

 cious, combative ; pu^rto, I fight; /ju/jna, a battle ; properly, fisticuffs, as the primitive 

 mode of fighting; pugnum, the fist; root pft^/, whence come the whole set of words, and 

 others, as pygmy, &c. 



640. Bar-tram'-i-a 16n-gi-caud'-a. To William Bartram, " grandfather of American orni- 



thology." — Tlie usual generic name, actitnrus, is from the Gr. o/ctittjs, a doer by the sea, 

 a beach-inhabiter, a "longshoreman," from a.KT-fi, tlie seashore, and ovpa, tail. — Lat. 

 longits, long, and caucla, tail. 



This is Actiturus hartramius of the orig. ed. See Coues, Bull. Nutt. Club, v, 1880, 

 p. 100. 



641. Tryn'-gi-tes ru-fes'-cens. See Z'rw^rf, No. 626. Here we have another form of the word, 



nearer the original Gr. rpvyyas, with the termination -ttjs, -tes ; tliis suffix commonly 

 denoting active agency, as the English -er, for example, makes work-er from work. — 

 Lat. rufescens, present participle of rufesco, I grow reddish. 



642. Het-6-r6'-scgl-iis In-can'-us. Gr. eTepos, opposite, different, otherwise, and <TKe\os, the 



log, shin ; from the peculiar scutellation of tlie leg. — Lat. incanus, very gray, quite 

 hoary, as the bird is : in and caints. 



643. Nu-me'-nT-us lon-gi-ros'-trls. A curious etymology is this, if the derivation assigned be 



true. Gr. veos, new, young, and ^V, a month, /xiiyr), the moon; the narrow arcuate bill 

 being likened to the new crescent moon. The same word is seen in meniscus, a kind of 

 lens, but primarily and literally a little moon. But numenius might also be derived 

 directly from numen, a nod, a bending of the head downward and forward (hence assent, 

 command, and hence a divinity, who nods assent or expresses its will by such gesture) ; 

 Gr. vevfio., a nod, veiai, I nod ; very applicable to the attitude of the bird. Whichever 

 of these derivations we approve, they amount to practically the same thing; for numenius 

 certainly refers to tlie shape of the bill, being used by the ornithologists of the heroic 

 age as synonymous with arquata or arcuata. — Lat. longirostris, long-billed ; longus and 

 rostrum. — " Curlew " is not an imitation of the bird's voice, but a mangling of the 

 French name cour-Jieu, " run-place," from the coursing of the birds : compare courlis, 

 courly, courlan, cocorli, &c. 



644. N. phae'-6-piis. Gr. (pai6s, dark colored, dusky, gray, swarthy ; its exact meaning is 



expressed when we say " gray of the morning : " related to cpali/oo, I appear ; irovs, foot. 

 "Whimbrel" is apparently Anglo-Saxon; related to whim, whimsical, in the sense of 

 flighty, a gad-about. 



Not in the orig. ed. Only North American as a bird of Greenland. 



