XXIX 



CRESTS OR TOP-KNOTS 



THE heads of birds are variously adorned by Nature. 

 Some of them are ornamented with a fleshy comK 

 others possess wattles or gills about the gape, some 

 have horny additions known as helmets, and many 

 have tufts of feathers known as top-knots or crests and, 

 in a few instances, as crowns. It is a distinction in the 

 bird world to possess a crest. Ornithologists usually 

 refer to this embellishment when they confer names on 

 the happy possessors of top-knots. All animals and 

 plants receive at the hands of zoologists and botanists 

 two names, one generic, a noun, and the other specific, 

 an adjective : these are chosen from the Latin language 

 for the convenience of naturalists throughout the 

 world. 



The names of living things are not the same in 

 all countries and often vary in different parts of the 

 same country, but educated men throughout the world 

 are familiar with Latin, which was formerly the 

 universal language of science, therefore the application 

 of generic and specific names derived from this 

 language enables a zoologist to know the genus to 

 which the animal belongs. The specific name often 

 signifies some fact connected with it. Such reference 

 in the case of a bird may convey information concern- 

 ing its size, colour, length of legs, breadth of wings, 

 shape of the tail, size of the bill and other details con- 



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