GRE YBACK—GROSBEAK 385 
throughout the Indo-Malay Archipelago to Australia. It has also 
been recorded from North America, but its appearance there must 
be considered accidental. Almost as bulky as a Woodcock, it is of 
a much more slender build, and its long legs and neck give it a 
graceful appearance, which is enhanced by the activity of its 
actions. Disturbed from the moor or marsh, where it has its nest, 
it rises swiftly into the air, conspicuous by its white back and rump, 
and uttering shrill cries flies round the intruder. It will perch on 
the topmost bough of a tree, if a tree be near, to watch his pro- 
ceedings, and the cock exhibits all the astounding gesticulations in 
which the males of so many other Limicole indulge during the 
breeding-season—with certain variations, however, that are peculiarly 
its own. It breeds in no small numbers in the Hebrides, and parts 
of the Scottish Highlands from Argyllshire to Sutherland, as well 
as in the more elevated or more northern districts of Norway, 
Sweden, and Finland, and probably also from thence to Kamchatka. 
In North America it is represented by two species, Totanus semipal- 
matus and T. melanoleucus, there called Willets, Telltales, or 
Tattlers, which in general habits resemble the Greenshank of the 
Old World. 
GREYBACK, in England a common name of the Grey form of 
Crow, Corvus cornizx; but in North America applied by gunners to 
the Knot. 
GREY HEN, the female of the Blackcock or Black GROUSE. 
GRIFFON (Fr. Griffon, Lat. Gryphus, Gr. ypt~—a fabulous 
monster with a hooked beak, an Eagle’s wings, and a Lion’s body) the 
name applied in 1666 by certain French academicians to a VULTURE, 
which they dissected, and continued by Buffon for what is now 
known as Gyps fulvus, being finally adopted as its English dis- 
tinctive name by Bennett in 1831 (Gard. and Menag. Zool. Soc. ii. 
pon) 
GRINDER, one of the names given in Australia to Stsura 
inguieta, a form very similar to Lhipidwra (FANTAIL) and like that 
generally assigned to the Muscicapidw (FLYCATCHER). Caley noticed 
(Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. p. 250), the resemblance of the noise made 
by this bird, though how it is produced is not said, to that caused 
by a razor-grinder at work, and Gould adds (Handb. B. Austral. i. 
p. 247), on Gilbert’s authority, that its general note is a loud harsh 
cry, several times repeated, but it also utters a clear whistle. Its 
flight is very remarkable, and its habit of hovering, at which time 
is caused the sound that gives it this name, very peculiar. 
GROSBEAK (French, Groshec), a name very indefinitely applied 
1 The Griffin of heraldry is the same word, but that is represented with Bat- 
like wings. 
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