PODARGUS—POPELER 737 
that most interesting form generally, but obviously in error, placed 
among them, the LOGGER-HEAD (p. 518), Racehorse or Steamer- 
Duck, Tachyeres or Micropterus cinereus of the Falkland Islands and 
Straits of Magellan—nearly as large as a tame Goose, and subject, 
as is asserted, to the, so far as known, unique peculiarity of losing 
its power of flight after reaching maturity. 
PODARGUS, a genus of birds so named by Vieillot in 1819, 
being based on the Podarge of Cuvier, and used by Gould and 
other writers as an English word (see MorEpoRK, p. 592, and 
NIGHTJAR, p. 638). 
POE-BIRD, another name for the PARSON-BIRD. 
POLLEX, the thumb or first digit of the wing, never consisting 
of more than two phalanges, of which the terminal one is often 
aborted or absent; but, when fully developed, it often bears a 
horny cLAW. From the basal phalanx grows the so-called ‘“ bastard 
wing.” 
POLYMYODI (or POLYMYOD® if a feminine termination 
be needed), Johannes Miiller’s name (Abhandl. k. Akad. Berlin, Phys. 
Kl. 1847, p. 366) for the first of his three groups of PASSERINI, 
from the many song-muscles they possess, equivalent to the OSCINES 
of Keyserling and Blasius. 
POMPADOUR,! the name given by Edwards in 1759 
(Gleanings, ii. p. 275, pl. 341) to one of the most beautiful of 
the Ootingide (CHATTERER), and since generally adopted, though 
prior to his publication of the species it had been already described 
and figured by Brisson (Ornithol. ii. p. 347, pl. xxxv. fig. 1). It 
is the Ampelis pompadora of Linnzeus, referred now to the genus 
Xipholena, a native of Guiana, Surinam and Cayenne, and easily 
recognized by the shining crimson-purple of its plumage, set off 
by its white wings. Two other allied species, X. atripurpurea and 
X. lamellipennis, inhabit Brazil (cf. Sclater, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xiv. 
pp. 387-389). 
POOL-SNIPE, said to be a local name of the REDSHANK. 
POOR SOLDIER, a name for the Australian FRIAR-BIRD. 
POPE, one of the many local names of the PUFFIN, Fratercula 
arctica, as well as of the BULLFINCH. 
POPELER, an old name for the SPOONBILL, Platalea leucorodia, 
it is not so; but anybody who has taken the trouble to investigate the history 
of an exterminated species will find that to determine the time when it ceased 
from appearing is no easy thing. 
1 Aga bird’s name in French, Pompadour signifies a breed of domestic poultry, 
apparently that which we call the Polish. 
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