130 CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



^848. Podicipes cornntus (Gm.) Lath, b 706. c 61i. r 732. 



y^ Horned Grebe. 



849. Podicipes aiiritus (L.) Lath. B 708. c — . r 733. (G.) 



European Eared Grebe. 



850. Podicipes anritns californicus (Heerm.) Coues. b 707. c 612. R 733a, 



American Eared Grebe. 



851. Podicipes dominicus (L.) Lath, b 708a. c 613. r 734. 



St. Domingo Grebe. 



852. Podilymbus podicipes (L.) Lawr. B 709. c gi4. r 735. 



Pied-billed Grebe ; Dab-chick, 



853. Fratercnla comiculata (Naum.) Gray, b 713. c 617. R 744. 



Horned Puffin. 



in the water, — turning "heels over head," as we should say. In deriving the name of 

 the family of grebes, some curious words have been ventured ; as Podicijnna, as if the 

 genitive were podicipis, or Podicijiitince, as if the genitive were jiodicijiitis. There is no 

 doubt that podiceps, and everything derived from it, is absurd. We have not traced the 

 word back of 1758, when it i:)robably originated in a misprint. Going back further in 

 the annals of ornithology, we soon come upon the word in its proper form, \iz., podicipes, 

 occurring repeatedly in Willughby and various writers of about that period. The word 

 is the Latin podex, genitive podicis, the rump, buttocks, and pes, foot ; being simply a 

 translation into Latin of a very vulgar English name. Having crystallized in the shape 

 of podiceps, by Latham's employ of the word as a generic term, and then been used for a 

 century, it will not be easy to eradicate ; but the attempt should be made to substitute 

 the proiter podicipes. The genitive of this is podicipedis, and the family name should be 

 Podicipedidce. — Lat. griseus, gray : gena, cheek. 



Note. — There is no technical reason or excuse for using the word at all. For 

 Columbus, Brisson, 1760, is the proper name for the genus of grebes, having meant 

 Grebe, not Loon, from the time of Aristotle to thatof Linnaeus, when the latter used it 

 for loons and grebes indiscriminately. The loons were called Mergus by Brisson ; and 

 Eudytcs, lUiger, 1811, seems to be the tenable generic name for them. 



848. P. cor-nu'-tus. Lat. conudus, horned; cormi, a horn; in reference to the tufts of feathers 



on the head. 



849. P. aur-I'-tus. Lat. anritns, eared; auris, an ear; Gr. oSs, genitive wt6s, ear; in allusion 



to the auricular tufts of feathers. 



Not in the orig. ed. Only North American as occurring in Greenland. 



850. P. cal-i-for'-ni-cus. To California. 



851. P. dom-m'-i-cus. To the Island of St. Domingo. See Denf/ro-co, No. 129. 



852. P6d-i-lym'-bus p6d-i'-ci-pes. The word podili/mhis, sometimes aggravated into pody- 



limbus, is a peculiarly villanous miscegenation of podi[ceps and co]lijmbus ; see the latter 

 word. No. 840, and Podicipes, No. 847. 



853. Fra-ter'-cu-la cor-ni-cul-a'-ta. " Fratercida" is a singular word, the application of which 



to this bird is not obvious, and the form of which seems absurd: a. feminine noun mean- 

 ing "little brother." Fraterculus is a proper classical word, a diminutive ot f rater, 

 brother. But there is no larger bird sufHciently near this species for the latter to be 

 called the "little brother." Fratercula in ornithological writing is much older than 

 1760, when Brisson made a genus of it, and we are inclined to think that it is humorously 

 ' used ; all the more so by being made feminine, in the same spirit that prompted the 

 comic writer Plautus to invent the verb frafercdo, as he did sororio, to signalize the 

 swellings of the breasts of boys, like <it'm-brothers, at puberty. If there be anything in 



