ENGLISH AND AMERICAN BIRDS. 91 



many poets in the old world, lent its name 

 to the bird which the early colonists found 

 inhabiting the meadows along the streams 

 of the New World. Our crow-blackbird, 

 redwinged blackbird, and cow-blackbird, 

 derived their names from the English 

 thrush which bears that name. In like 

 manner our American chimney-swift was 

 named from the English chimney-swallow, 

 and our purple-martin from the English 

 window-martin, or cliff-swallow. Our sum- 

 mer yellowbird or thistle-bird, was called 

 the goldfinch, and our purple-finch the lin- 

 net. Our ruffed grouse was called the par- 

 tridge, and our American partridge the 

 quail. So after the English redstart, a 

 bird nearly allied to the robin redbreast, 

 one of our wood-warblers, a family pecu- 

 liar to the New World, was named. The 

 cuckoos, wrens, and nuthatches are other 

 familiar instances. 



From an ornithological point of view, 

 however, these popular names were some- 

 times glaring misnomers, and, indeed, were 

 often based upon very superficial resem- 



