ENGLISH AND AMERICAN BIRDS. 9 1 



many poets in the old world, lent its name 

 to the bird which the early colonists found 

 inhabiting the meadows along the streams 

 of the New World. Our crow-blackbird, 

 redwinged blackbird, and cow-blackbird, 

 derived their names from the English 

 thrush which bears that name. In like 

 manner our American chimney-swift was 

 named from the English chimney-swallow, 

 and our purple-martin from the English 

 window-martin, or cliff-swallow. Our sum- 

 mer yellowbird or thistle-bird, was called 

 the goldfinch, and our purple-finch the lin- 

 net. Our ruffed grouse was called the par- 

 tridge, and our American partridge the 

 quail. So after. the English redstart, a 

 bird nearly allied to the robin redbreast, 

 one of our wood-warblers, a family pecu- 

 liar to the New World, was named. The 

 cuckoos, wrens, and nuthatches are other 

 familiar instances. 



From an ornithological point of view, 

 however, these popular names were some- 

 times glaring misnomers, and, indeed, were 

 often based upon very superficial resem- 



