CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 113 



707. Anas boscas L. B 576. c 488. R eoi. 



Mallard. 



708. Anas obscura Gm. B 577. c 489. R 602. 



Dusky Duck. 



709. Anas obscura fulvigiila Ridg. B . c 489a. R 603. 



Florida Dusky Duck. 



710. Dafila acuta (L.) Jen. B 578. c 490. R 605. 



Pintail; Sprigtail. 



711. Chaulelasmus strepems (L.) Gr. B 584. c 491. R 604. 



Gadwall. 



712. Mareca penelope (L.) Selby. B 586. c 492. R 606. (!E.) 



European Widgeon. 



713. Mareca americana (Gm.) Steph. B 585. c 493. R 607. 



American Widgeon. 



714. Querquedula crecca (L.) Steph. B 580. c 494. R en. (IE.) 



English Teal. 



707. An'-as bos'-cas. Lat. anas, a duck; doubtless related to vavffa. See what is said under 



Hydranassa, No. 660. Gr. potritds, Lat. boscas or boscis, a duck, probably this very 

 species ; from )8J(r/c<w, I graze. This word has almost invariably, in ornithology, beera 

 written boschas very wrongly, as Wharton was lately at pains to point out (Ibis, 1879 r 

 p. 453). 



708. A. ob-scu'-ra. Lat. obscurus, dark, obscure. 



709. A. o. ful-vl'-gfi-la. Lat. fulvus, fulvous, and gula, throat. This and many similar word* 



are viciously accented on a long penult. 



710. Da'-fl-la a-cu'-ta. Dafila is a nonsense-word, invented by W. E. Leach, like Barelda r 



meaning nothing. Lat. acuta, sharpened, pointed ; as the tail of the bird is. 



711. Chau-le-las'-mus strSp'-6-rfis. Gr. x a ^ los > prominent, projecting, protuberant; and' 



\aa/j.6s, a layer, plate, lamella; referring to the denticulations of the bill. Lat. stre- 

 perus (not classic), noisy, clamorous; as we should say, obstreperous ; strepitus, a noise;, 

 strepo, I make a fuss. 



712. Ma-re'-ca pe-n61'-8-pe. Mareca is said to be a Brazilian vernacular word for some kind 



of duck ; long after, it was transferred to the widgeon. But it may also be remarked 

 that there is the Lat. Marlca, a water-nymph. Eay has Mareca (Syn., p. 149). Penel- 

 ope was the celebrated wife of Ulysses, mother of Telemachus ; penelops, or in Gr.. 

 ir-nv4\oty, was some kind of duck. Linnaeus wrote the latter. 



713. M. am-Sr-I-ca-na. See Parula, No. 93. 



714. Quer-quS'-dii-la crec'-ca. Lat. querquedula, a kind of small duck; etymology obscure, 



and not at all to our way of thinking in the authorities consulted ; apparently from 

 KapKafpoa, Kpx&, KfpKis, KipKij, KpcKOD, Kpt}-, a set of onomatopoeic words formed to express- 

 a shrill or harsh creaking sound ; hence related to creak, quack, crackle, &c , and quite 

 equivalent to the very word crecca, which we have here, and which seems but an arbitrary 

 adjective formed from KpeKw. Charleton calls one of the ducks Anas " caudacuta, The 

 Cracke (a strepitu)." The form quacula is found in some writers; and "quack" is the 

 usual word to express a duck's voice. See Crex, No. 683. 



