Vc! 'i9i9 XVI ] Seton, Popular Bird Names. 233 



Take the name " Western Grebe." Of course, it is n't a Western 

 Grebe any more than several others; and, viewed from some stand- 

 points, it is an Eastern Grebe, a Southern Grebe, a Northern 

 Grebe, a Northeastern Grebe, a South-southwestern Grebe, or any 

 other compass point you like to give it. But what popular ear, 

 tongue, or imagination is ready to seize on such a name? 



It has no point, power or appeal. How much better, for the 

 present, the descriptive "Swan-Grebe," that does, in a small 

 measure, do justice to the superb creature in question. 



I suppose, if we are to be candid, the word "Grebe" has never 

 taken root in America. I do not know why. It is, indeed, of 

 French origin; but it has been thoroughly Englished in form. 

 It is short, angular and individual. But the fact is that in the 

 popular mind all "Grebes" are "Hell-divers," and we may as well 

 admit it; although I do not see the word at all in the scientific list 

 of popular names. 



I can imagine some hearer objecting here that his ten-year-old 

 boy or girl has all the names at his tongue's end — far better than 

 grown-ups. Yes; I know you can teach a child to talk Latin if you 

 do it at the language learning age and make it interesting; but you 

 cannot thereby make it the language of the nation. 



To sum up — I take it that the business of ornithology is, first, 

 to accumulate correct information about birds and then to diffuse 

 it among the people. 



If the ornithologists had set out definitely to build an eternal 

 barrier to popular interest in birds, they could not have done it 

 better than by establishing such impossible names as are cited 

 above. They never were, and never could be, English names. 



The puzzle has been set forth; now what is the answer? I admit 

 that scientists, describing a new bird, may suggest a name in 

 pseudo-English. That seems necessary. But let them receive 

 fair warning, that it is a temporary makeshift; tolerated, but barely 

 respectable. 



How are we to discover the acceptable name? Only by looking 

 out for it, as a precious thing to be found, tested when found and 

 accepted when proven. I shall never forget the little thrill that I 

 got when I learned that, in some good and old writings, a Wood- 



