358 Trotter, English Names of American Birds. [ocf 



"Tree Swallow" for T. bicolor — the " White-bellied Swallow" of 

 earlier authors. It appears to have come into use at a compara- 

 tively late period. 



Bartram speaks of Ampelis cedrorum as "Crown Bird" or 

 "Cedar bird" (Travels, 290), the latter its current name. 



V. Names suggested by Color or Other External 

 Feature. 



A large number of our American bird names owe their origin to 

 color or to some conspicuous external feature. The "Great crested 

 Flycatcher" of Wilson is the "Great Crested Yellow bellied Fly- 

 catcher" of Bartram and "The Crested Flycatcher" of Catesby, 

 (I, 52). The word "Great" evidently originated with Bartram. 

 "Baltimore," as applied in the vernacular to Icterus galbula, was 

 first used in ornithological literature by Catesby — "The Balti- 

 more-Bird" (I, 48) — the name being derived from its color pat- 

 tern, that of the livery of the Calverts (Lord Baltimore). Bartram 

 calls it "Baltimore bird or hang nest." The specific appelation 

 "Orchard" appears first to have been bestowed by Wilson upon 

 Icterus spurius which was the "Bastard Baltimore" of Catesby 

 (I, 49). Wilson goes to some length to set things right concerning 

 this species. "Scarlet" as applied to the Tanager (Piranga 

 cri/thromelas) appears first in Edwards (Gleanings, 343) as the 

 "Scarlet Sparrow." Pennant calls this species " Canada Tanager." 

 The "Summer Redbird" is so called and figured by Catesby (I, 

 56). Bartram speaks of it as the "Sandhill redbird of Carolina." 

 Among the Sparrows and Grosbeaks there are a number of species 

 the names of which have a color origin. "Red poll," given to a 

 species of Acanthis, appears as the "Lesser red-headed Linnet" 

 and "Lesser Redpole," of Ray and Pennant. "Linnet" is an 

 ancient name common in several European languages and is in 

 reference to the fondness of these birds for the seeds of the flax 

 (Linum). Bartram undoubtedly refers to this species (Acanthis 

 linaria) under the name of "hemp bird." "Purple" as applied to 

 Carpodacus purpureus first appears in Catesby's work (I, 41) as 

 "Purple Finch" and is a monumental witness of an inability to 

 properly discriminate either between two very different shades of 



