CONCERNING THE BIRD'S LATIN NAME. 



Do not think that Latin names are useless or meaningless. 

 Do not think that anything in science is done without a 

 reason. We shall neither use Latin names nor talk about 

 them after this chapter, because you ought not to get the im- 

 pression that learning hard names is studying science ; but in 

 this short chapter I wish to tell you why these long names are 

 useful. 



In the first place, the hard names in science enable you to 

 say exactly what you mean to say. Of course, it is of no 

 advantage for you to know the words themselves if you use 

 them inaccurately ; but if you know precisely what they mean, 

 these scientific terms will make it possible for you to speak 

 with so much exactness that you cannot be mistaken. The 

 Latin names of birds, like all other scientific terms, have this 

 precision, and are ordinarily preferred to the English names, 

 which may be indefinite. 



A bird's Latin name is made up in a particular way and has 

 a particular significance. The same is true of the Latin name 

 of every fish, insect, reptile, or living creature, and also of all 

 the botanical names, so that what we are about to say of the 

 names of birds holds true of the Latin names of all other 

 creatures or plants. 



If you understand Latin and Greek, the name will tell 

 you something about the bird. Is not Oceanites, " the sons 

 of the ocean," a pretty name for a group of petrels ? Another 

 genus of the same birds has a name meaning " wave dancers," 

 which beautifully describes their habits. Take Pinicola enu- 



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