80 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



name from Linnaeus, who spelt the word ' titys * 

 as did Gesner ; but the best classical authorities, 

 Stephanus, Porson, and Passow, consider ' titis ' 

 to be right. This originally meant a small chirp- 

 ing bird, and is possibly cognate with the first 

 syllable of our ^Vmouse and /zVlark." After the 

 opinion expressed by such authorities, it may ap- 

 pear somewhat presumptuous on my part to offer 

 a suggestion; but there is yet another explanation, 

 which has apparently been overlooked. Might 

 not the word " tithys " (more correctly " tithus"} 

 be derived from the Greek adjective nOoj, Orf, 0<?t/,. 

 which has the same signification as Ti0<ro?, that 

 is, " reared up in the house, domesticated." 

 Compare the domestic hens of Dioscorides, T0a 

 o/jv*0ff. The term ''domesticated" would be well 

 applied to the Black Redstart, which is a very 

 familiar bird, frequently perching on house-tops 

 and garden walls, and building in holes and 

 crannies in the neighbourhood of man's 

 dwelling. 



