510 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
starling” (I, 13). Kalm (Forster) uses the older form “ stare ” 
(Eng. Trans., IT, 73-79) and lkewise refers to the species of 
Quiscalus as “ blackbirds,” remarking that “The English call them 
blackbirds” (Eng. Trans., I, 291). Our goldfinch appears first in 
Catesby as “The American goldfinch” (I, 43), the name clearly 
borrowed from the Old World Carduelis elegans. “Siskin” in like 
manner comes from the Old World, the word being originally of 
Scandinavian origin and meaning “chirper” or “piper.” “Snow 
bunting ” is the old name of Plectrophenax nivalis and should rightly 
replace the fanciful “ snowflake,’ Our “tree sparrow ” is the re- 
sult of a confusion of the American species (Spizella monticola) 
with the mountain or tree sparrow of Europe (Passer montanus). 
This was corrected by Pennant, but the name “ tree” was retained. 
A rather curious case of name transfer is that of our yellow- 
breasted chat (/cteria virens). The bird first appears under this 
title in Catesby’s Work (I, 50), and was evidently so called by him 
-in a mistaken idea that it was related to the birds of the same name 
belonging to the European genus Sazicola. This fact is made evi- 
dent by the Latin word wnanthe used in the descriptive designation. 
The name “buzzard” as applied to the turkey vulture appears 
early in the literature of American birds. Catesby calls it “ turkey 
buzzard” (I, 6). As an old English name of Norman French deri- 
vation (Busard, Latin Buteo) it had, as Newton points out (Dict. 
of Birds, 767), a definite meaning in relation to the old sport of 
“hawking.” Birds of the genera Buteo and Circus (Harrier) were 
styled “ buzzards ” (more especially the species of the former genus), 
of slow and heavy flight, and “ were regarded with infinite scorn, 
and hence in common English to call a man a buzzard is to denounce 
him as stupid.” With the exception of eagles and owls and a few 
kites all birds of prey in this country are termed “ hawks,” and 
“buzzard” has been relegated to this slow-moving, carrion-feeding 
species. 
II. NAMES DERIVED FROM A LATIN EQUIVALENT. 
Several of our English bird names have come into every day 
speech by the anglicizing of their generic titles. The Linnean 
genus Oriolus (from “ Oriole,” Latin aurum, gold) included certain 
species of Icteridx, which though very different from the European 
Oriolus galbula, still bear its name. “Junco” and “ Vireo” are 
anglicized generic names. The word “ grackle” applied to certain 
species of our Icteride appears to be an anglicized word derived 
from the Linnean genus G'racula. The word originally referred to 
the daw or jackdaw of Europe and the relationship between the 
American birds and the European species, though somewhat distant, 
was recognized by early writers, Quiscalus quiscula appears in 
