50 CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



212. Chrysomitris piims (Bartr.) Bp. B 317. c 148. R 185. 



Pine Linnet; American Siskin. 



213. Astragalinns tristis (L.) Cab. B sis. c 149. R isi. 



American Goldfinch. 



214. Astragalinus lawrencii (Cass.) Coues. B 316. c 150. R 183. 



Lawrence's Goldfinch. 



215. Astragalinns psaltria (Say) Coues. B 314. c 151. R 182. 



Arkansaw Goldfinch. 



216. Astragalinus psaltria arizonse Coues. B . c i5ia. R i82a. 



Arizona Goldfinch. 



212. Chry-s6-ml'-trls pl'-nus. Gr. xpuo-o/tirpts, having a golden head-dress or girdle ; 



golden, and nirpa, a mitre. There are other forms of the word, varying in the vowels, as 

 Xpvo-opirpris and x/>wo"o/*^Tpty. The latter, which occurs in Aristotle, is translated uurivittis 

 by Gaza ; as Sundwall remarks, heightening the probability that it is the same word as* 

 Xpv(rofji.lTpijs, and is based upon the bright appearance of the European Goldfinch, F. 

 carduelis L. Some other names of classic origin for the Goldfinch and its relatives may 

 be here conveniently noted. Aristotle had three species of " Acanthophaga" as he called 

 them ; i. e., birds living upon prickly plants ; as we should say, " th'stle-birds." 1. One 

 of these was the Opavrrls or 8\vir(s, concerning which see Geothlypis, No. 141. 2. The 

 Xpvffofj.riTpis, as just said. 3. His anavdls, which was undoubtedly the Fringitta canna- 

 bina L. This in Latin becomes spinus, of late years taken as the specific name of F, 

 spinus L. The exact Latin of " thistle-bird " is carduelis, occurring in Pliny ; it is from 

 carduus, a thistle, and reappears in numerous shapes ; as Ital. carduello, cardello ; carduelino, 

 cardellino (compare Cardellina, No. 150), and also gardello and gardellino ; Fr. chardonneret, 

 &c. Aristotle speaks of the sharp voice of his a.Kav6is \iyvpd ; whence ligurinus, another 

 of the many names for birds of this kind. So have we later derived siskin from the 

 sharp note ; Swedish siska, Dutch sijsken, Germ, gteftg, Polish czyz, &c. Another Greek 

 name for some kind of thistle-bird, perhaps the European Goldfinch, is ao-Tpaya\wos, in 

 1850 applied by Cabanis to the American Goldfinch, as a generic term : see next word. 

 Lat. pinus, a pine-tree. 



213. As-tra-ga-H'-nus tris'-tls. Gr. affTpayaXwos is given by Cabanis as the word, and as a 



name of a thistle-bird ; it is evidently an adjectival form from avrpdyaXos, a die, one 

 of the ankle-bones, and also, in Dioscorides, the name of some kind of plant ; whence 

 the modern botanical genus Astragalus. The original application of aa-rpayaXTvos is 

 undoubtedly to some bird that lived upon, or frequented, the plant in mention, its recent 

 transference to an American Goldfinch being of course arbitrary. When the present 

 species was first described it was called chardonneret de I'Ame'nque, i. e., carduelis ameri- 

 cana: see No. 212. Lat. tristis, sad, in allusion to the plaintive cry of the bird. 



214. A. law-rgn'-cl-i. To George N. Lawrence, of New York, the eminent ornithologist. 



215. A. psal'-trl-a. See explanation of Psctltriparus, No. 53. Psaltria is not a Lat. adj. 



to be made agreeable in gender with Astragalinus, but a Greek noun, tya\rpia, signifying 

 a female lutist. " Arkansaw " is not, as it would seem to be, " Kansas " with a prefix, 

 nor is it the name by which the aborigines of that country knew themselves ; nor is 

 " Kansas " the right name of any tribe of Indians. The meaning of neither of these 

 words is known. "Arkansaw" is preferable to Arkansas, as nearer the original 

 " Arkanso." 



216. A. p. a-rf-zo'-nae. Named after the Territory of Arizona, where discovered in 1864. 



See Peuccea, No. 253. 



