CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 83 



480. Surnia funerea (L.) Rich. & Sw. B 62. c 326. R 407. 



American Hawk Owl. 



481. Surnia funerea ulula (L.) Ridg. B . c . E 407. (?) (! A.) 



European Hawk Owl. 



482. Nyctala tengmalmi richardsoni (Bp.) Ridg. B 55. c 327. R 400. 



Richardson's Owl. 



483. Nyctala acadica (Gm.) Bp. B 56, 57. c 328. R 401. 



Acadian Owl; Saw-whet OwL 



484. Glaucidium gnoma Wagl. B 60. c 329. R 400. 



Pygmy Owl. 



480. Sur'-nl-a fu-ng'-rl-a. Surnia and Syrnium are forms of the same word, the meaning and 



derivation of which are alike unknown to us; we follow Newton in using the former; 

 see Sund., Tent., p. 104. Lat. funereus, funereal ; from funus, a funeral, burial pro- 

 cession. Applicable to an owl, either regarded as a bird of ill omen, or with reference to 

 its dismal cry, as if wailing the dead. 



This stands Surnia ulula hudsonica in the orig. ed. Names of owls are " confusion 

 worse confounded." See Ridg. Pr. Nat. Mus., ii, 1880, p. 8. 



481. S. f. iil-ul-a. Lat. ulula, & Plinian name of the screech-owl; ululo, Gr. b\o\vfa, I howl, hal- 



loo, make a "hullaballoo"; all onomatopreic. Compare also the Hebrew, Jjjbn, whence 

 hallelujah. 



Not in the orig. ed. The old world Hawk Owl, at best hardly distinguishable from 

 the American, is stated to occur in Alaska as a straggler from Asia ; and all the Hawk 

 Owls of Great Britain are said to be of the American variety. The case itself is as 

 perplexing as its nomenclature is involved. 



482. Nyc'-ta-la tgng'-mal-mi rlch'-ard-sdn-i. Gr. vtivraXos or vuffraXos, drowsy, sleepy. See 



Nyctea, No. 479, for basis of the word. To P. G. Tengmalm, a Swedish naturalist. To 

 Sir John Richardson, the English naturalist. 



483. N. a-cad'-I-ca. To Acadia, or Acadie, a locale now in Maine, scene of Longfellow's 



" Evangeline." 



484. Glau-cId'-I-um gno'-ma. There is a Greek word y\avKiSiov, but that is some kind of fish, 



not a bird. It is, however, related to y\av}-, which means an owl. There is also an 

 adjective y\avKci>5r)s, from y\av and elSos, from which Glaucidium may be modified. 

 The allusion in all these cases is to the eyes of the bird ; if not in color, then in the 

 general aspect and expression of these remarkable organs of vision. There being actu- 

 ally no owls with blue eyes, as y \avic6s, glaucus, is commonly translated, the direct impli- 

 cation is probably to the owl as the bird of wisdom, sacred to Minerva, yXavKanris being 

 one of the most familiar Homeric epithets of the " blue-eyed " goddess. Such may 

 therefore be the meaning of y\av, without reference to the color of the bird's own eyes. 

 The word gnoma is very pat for an owl, and especially interesting in such application. 

 Gr. yva>/j.a, an opinion, decision ; 71/0^77, reason ; yrt&fuav, a judge, arbiter ; all from yiyvcaffKu, 

 I know ; whence also gnostic, and the very English word know, with countless related 

 forms, all rooted in the idea of knowledge. Hence gnoma is apt for the bird of Minerva, 

 goddess of wisdom, and is given just as Athene was made a similar epithet. Further- 

 more, the English word gnome, by which we may directly translate gnoma in this case, is 

 from the same root, meaning etymologically "the knowing one," "one who arbi- 

 trates certain destinies " : by metonymy, a kind of sprite or elf presiding over mines. 

 Gnoma is thus an eligible epithet of a bird which combines a reputation for wisdom 

 with certain superstitions connected with the gnome-like or goblin-like quality of its 

 knowingness. 



