CHECK LIST OF NOMTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



113 



X 



y 



ion. Anas boscas L. b 576. c 488. R coi. 



Mallard. 



708. Anas obscura Gm. b 577. c 489. R 602. 



Dusky Duck. 



709. Anas obscura fulvigula Ridg. b — . c 489a. R 603. 



Florida Dusky Duck. 



710. Dafila acuta (L.) Jen. b 578. c 490. R 605. 



Pintail ; Sprigtail. 



711. Chaulelasmus streperus (L.) Gr. b 584. c 491. R 604. 



Gadwall. 



712. Mareca penelope (L.) Selby. b 586. c 492. r 6O6. (!e.) 



European Widgeon. 



713. Mareca americana (Gm.) Steph. b 585. c 493. r 607. 



American Widgeon. 



714. Querquedula crecca (L.) Steph. b 580. c 494. R 6II. (!e.) 



English Teal. 



707. An'-as bos'-cas. Lat. anas, a duck; doubtless related to vavtra. See what is said under 

 Hydranassa, No. 660. — Gr. fioaKas, Lat. boscas or boscis, a duck, probably this very 

 species ; from Poo-koj, I graze. This word lias almost invariably, in ornithology, been 

 written boschas — very wrongly, as Wharton was lately at pains to point out (Ibis, 1879, 

 p. 453). 



ob-scij'-ra. Lat. obscurus, dark, obscure. 



708. 

 709. 



710. 



711. 



712. 



713. 

 714. 



A. o. ful-vi'-gu-la. Lat. /«Zct<s, fulvous, and (7?</a, throat. This and many similar word* 

 are viciously accented on a long penult. 



Da'-fi-la a-cu'-ta. Dajila is a nonsense-word, invented by W. E. Leach, like Harelda, 

 meaning nothing. — Lat. acuta, sharpened, pointed ; as the tail of the bird is. 



Chau-lg-las'-mus str6p'-e-riSs. Gr. x^^^^'os. prominent, projecting, protuberant; and 

 eKafffios, a layer, plate, lamella; referring to the denticulations of the bill.. — Lat. s/»-e- 

 perus (not classic), noisy, clamorous; as we should say, obstreperous ; strepitiis, a noises 

 strepo, I make a fuss. 



Ma-re'-ca pe-nel'-6-pe. Mareca is said to be a Brazilian vernacular word for some kind 

 of duck ; long after, it was transferred to the widgeon. But it may also be remarked 

 that there is the Lat. Marica, a water-nymph. Ray has Mareca (Syn., p. 149). — Penel- 

 ope was the celebrated wife of Ulysses, mother of Telemachus ; penelops, or in Gr. 

 irr]i'e\o\f/, was some kind of duck. Linnaius wrote the latter. 



M. am-er-I-ca-na. See Panda, No. 93. 



Quer-que'-du-la crec'-ca. Lat. querquedula, a kind of small duck; etymology obscure, 

 and not at all to our way of thinking in the authorities consulted ; apparently from 

 KapKaCpo}, Kfpx<a, KfpKis, KlpKT], KpfKQj, Kpt^. n Set of onomatopoclc words formed to express 

 a shrill or harsh creaking sound; hence related to creak, quack, crackle, &c , and quite 

 equivalent to the very word crecca, which we have here, and which seems but an arbitrary 

 adjective formed from KpeKm. Charleton calls one of the ducks Anas " caudacuta, The 

 Cracke (a strepitu)." The form quacula is found in some writers; and "quack" is the 

 usual word to express a duck's voice. See Crex, No. G83. 



