80 CHECK LIST OF NOETH AMEEICAN BIRDS. 



459. Colaptes mexicanus Sw. B 98. c 314. R 378a. 



Red-shafted Woodpecker. 



460. Conurus carolinensis (L.) Kuhl. B 63. c 315. R 392. 



Carolina Parrot ; Paroquet. 



461. Aluco flammeus pratincola (Bp.) Coues. B 47. c 316. R 394. 



American Barn Owl. 



462. Bubo virginiaims (Gm.) Bp. B 48. c 317. R 405. 



Great Horned Owl. 



463. Bubo virginiaims arcticus (Sw.) Cass. B . c 3i7a. R 405a, 4056. 



Arctic Horned Owl. 



464. Bubo virginianus pacificus Cass. B . c 3176. R 405c. 



Pacific Horned Owl. 



459. C. mex-I-ca'-nus. To Mexico. 



460. Co-nu-ru's ca-r8-lln-en'-sls. Gr. KUVOS, Lat. conns, a cone, pine-cone, whence our word 



for a figure of that kind ; olpa, tail; in allusion to the wedged or cuneate tail. 



NOTE. The nomenclature of our owls, Nos. 461-488, must be considered still 

 unsettled in several instances, though we have endeavored to approximate toward a 

 fixed terminology in this difficult group, where the species and subspecies are not readily 

 determined, and where authors have bandied about the generic and specific names so 

 indiscriminately as to produce great confusion. The names here provisionally adopted 

 are in the main according to results reached by Mr. Ridgway, who has given special 

 attention to these birds. 



46 1 . Al-u'-co flam'-me-iis prat-in f -c5-15. The meaning of Aluco we do not know, further than 



that it has long been used for some kind of owl ; perhaps related to e'Aeo's, which occurs 

 in Aristotle as the name of some owl, and is enumerated by Brisson among the syno- 

 nyms of the European barn owl. Numberless names of owls in very many languages 

 are doubtless more nearly related than their diverse orthography would show at first 

 sight, and mostly appear to be onomatopoeic, in imitation of the hooting, howling cries 

 of these inauspicious birds of the night : Eng. owl, owlet, howlet; A. S. ul, eul, ule; Dutch, 

 nil; Dan. ugle ; Sw. uggla ; Germ, eule; Fr. huloite ; Ital. alocho (compare aluco) ; Sansk. 

 uluka, &c. Lat. flammeus, flaming, fiery-red; flamma (flag-ma), a flame, blaze; the root 

 is seen in flagrant, flagitious, de/Za^rrate ; flagro, I flare up, am inflamed; and many kin- 

 dred words. The allusion, rather strong, is to the flagrant colors of this species in com- 

 parison with most owls. Lat. pratincola, an inhabitant of fields; pratum, a meadow, 

 incola, an inhabitant (in and colo, I cultivate). 



This stands as Strixflammea americana in the orig. ed., and Ridgway has A.flammea 

 americana; but pratincola Bp. (1838) antedates americana Aud. (1839) ; and, on the gen- 

 eric nomenclature of owls, especially on the type of Strix L., see Newton, Yarr. Br. B., 

 4th ed., i, p. 150, and Ibis, 3d ser., vi, 1876, p. 94. 



462. Bu'-bo vlr-gln-I-a'-nu's. Lat. bubo, the horned owl ; perhaps related to bubulus or bubalus; 



bos, Gr. ftovs, a bull, horned cattle ; there is a similar Greek word &vas, for a horned owl. 

 So, also, the verb bubo or bubah, to low, hoot ; the word for the bittern, butor, botaurus 

 (bos, taunts), and others, are related, all being onomatopoeic, with reference to the low- 

 ing or bellowing of cattle. Virginianus, see Cardinalis, No. 299. 



463. B. v. arc'-tl-cfis. See Sialia, No. 29. 



464. B. v. pa-d'-fl-cQs. Lat. pacificus, pacific, peaceable, peace-making ; pax, peace, facio, I do, 



make ; " the stilly sea." The reference is to the habitat of the bird. 



We retain the three forms of Bubo as given in the orig. ed. Mr. Ridgway, after dis- 

 missing Mr. Cassin's var. pacificus, has four : B. v., and B. v. arcticus, as we have them ; 



