370 EXCURSUS ON THE NAMES OF SWALLOWS 



birds are known in so many different languages, are both 

 rooted in the idea of capturing insects, as these birds do on 

 the wing.* 



Most of the late technical names of genera of Swallows, like 

 Tacliycineta, Petrochelidon, and Stelgidopteryx, are of course com- 

 pounds derived from the Greek, invented by writers. Tachy- 

 cineta, for instance, is simply ra^iv^ro<;, a swift runner ; Petro- 

 chelidon is rock-swallow (irirpa, a rock ) ; and Stelgidopteryx 

 means rough-wing (ffretyfc, a scraper; T:T^OU, wing). The 

 Greek generic name for the Swallows, first revived in technical 

 nomenclature by Boie (1826? Isis, 1828, 316), for the European 

 House Martin, was Chelidon (%shdd)v), of probably the same 

 etymology with, and having precisely the same signification 

 as, the Latin Hirundo, which latter was established as a genus 

 by Linnaeus in 1766 or earlier. Xehddn was used by Aristotle 

 for the Swallows in general, with special reference to the two 

 mud-builders, Hirundo rustica and Chelidon urbica, the best- 

 known European species. Aristotle also knew the Bank Swal- 

 low, but confounded it with certain Swifts, Cypselidce. The 

 Greek xorbty, or Latin cotula or cotyla, signified a cavity, such 

 as the hollow of the hand or a vessel or measure ; it is an old 

 anatomical term for the socket of the thigh-bone, as is the 

 Latin acetabulum (a vinegar -cruet), but was probably not used 

 for birds until 1822, when Boie established his genus Cotile 

 (Isis, 1822, 550), afterward more correctly written Cotyle (Isis, 

 1844, 170). The obvious application here is to the holes in the 

 ground in which these birds nest. Procne or Progne, Boie's 

 genus established for our Purple Martins, is a classical proper 

 name, also used by Ovid and Virgil for some kind of Swallow, 

 and, like Chelidon, Herse, and Cecrops, is found in some of the 

 myths of the ancients. Boie's genus Cecropis is obviously the 

 same as Cecrops or K4xpanf>, who was the founder and most 

 ancient king of Attica. After the probably imaginary person- 

 age known as Ogyges, Cecrops was the autochthon to whom 

 the Attics traced their origin, though popularly represented as 

 half man, half serpent. Herse was one of his daughters, 

 beloved by Mercury, and mother of Cephalus. Chelidonia was 

 a festival at Ehodes, in which persons went begging, and sing- 

 ing a song called Chelidonisma,t which began with an allusion 



* Littre*, Diet. Fran?. Paris, 1863. 



t According to other authority, the beggars went about having swallows 

 perched upon their fingers. Chelidonias (x&tdoviafi was the west wind of 

 early spring, which brought Swallows. 



