CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 61 



306. Pipilo fuscTis mesoleucus (Bd.) Ridg. B 397. c 206. R 240. 



Brown Towhee Bunting ; Canon Bunting. 



307. Pipilo fuscus albigula (Bd.) Coues. B . c 206a. R 240a. 



White- throated Towhee Bunting. 



308. Pipilo fuscus crissalis (Vig.) Coues. B 396. c 2066. R 2406. 



Crissal Towhee Bunting. 



309. Pipilo aberti Bd. B 395. c 207. R 241. 



Abert's Towhee Bunting. 



310. Pipilo chlorurus (Towns.) Bd. B 398. C 208. R 239. 



Green-tailed Towhee Bunting. 



311. Embernagra rufovirgata Lawr. B 373. c 209. R 236. 



Green Finch. 



312. Dolichonyx oryzivorus (L.) Sw. B 399. c 210. R 257. 



Bobolink; Reed-bird; Rice-bird. 



306. P. fus'-ciis mSs-S-leu'-cfis. Lat./wscws, fuscous, dark, dusky, like furvus ; both allied to 



Gr. op<f>6s, of same meaning, from opQvfi, night or darkness 1 Gr. /tcVos, middle, Aeu/c<fc, 

 white ; in allusion to the color of the middle under parts. This word is derived from 

 Aeuo-o-w or y\av<ro-<i>, I shine ; this from ayXaia, splendor, the name of one of the Muses. 



This is given as P. fuscus in the orig. ed. ; but the bird of Arizona is said to be dis- 

 tinguishable from the Mexican stock species. 



307. P. f. al-bl'-gu-la. [Not albigew'ler.] Lat. albus, white; gula, throat. This is one of num- 



berless cases where the termination of the word is in question, Albigula may be taken 

 as a feminine noun, and left in this form, whatever the gender of the word with which 

 it is associated ; or it may be considered an adjective in -us, -a, -urn, and made masculine 

 to agree with P. fuscus. There is ample authority and precedent for the latter course, 

 which our taste disinclines us to take. English affords a parallel latitude of construc- 

 tion, as when we say indifferently "yellow-rump warbler" or "yellow-rumped warbler," 

 " Carolina chickadee " or " Carolinian chickadee." A better form than either albigulus 

 or albigula would be albigularis. 



308. P. f. cris-saMls. Late Lat. crissalis, pertaining to the crissum, or under-tail coverts, which 



in this bird are highly colored. There are no such classic words, they having been in- 

 vented by Illiger in 1811 ; but, there is a verb crisso, expressing a certain action of the parts. 



309. P. a'-bgrt-i. To Lieutenant J. W. Abert, of the U. S. Army, who discovered it. 



310. P. chl5-ru'-rus. Gr. x^-vpds, green, from x\6a, green grass ; olpa, tail. 



311. Em-ber-na'-gra ru-fS-vir-ga'-ta. Embernagra is a villanous word, concocted by Lesson 



out of Emberiza and Tanagra. Emberiza, a bunting, is a word the derivation of which 

 is not classic. It is said, doubtless correctly, to be Latinized from the O. H. G. Embritz ; 

 "Charleton (1668) has Embryza" (Wharton's MS.) ; and we may add that there were 

 various other forms of the word before it settled into the present one. There are Latin 

 words Tanager and Tanagra ; but these are geographical proper names, having nothing 

 to do with the present case. Tangara or Tanagra is a South American vernacular 

 word. Lat. rufus, rufous, reddish, and virgatus, literally, made of twigs; from virga, a 

 rod, switch, the application being the stripes with which the bird is marked. Commonly 

 written nifivirgata : see Lophopkanes, No. 42. 



312. D6Mch'-6-nyx 6-ry-zI'-v6-rfis. Gr. So\ixos, long, and &/u, a nail, claw, talon. The gender 



is in question ; but the Greek 6w, Lat-onyx, is masculine, though Latin words in -yx are 

 usually feminine. The usual pronunciation is dolicho'nyx: but see Pipilo, No. 305. Gr. 

 , or Lat. oryza, rice, and voro, I devour. 



