84 



CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



01. Mniotilta varia (L.) V. b 107. c 87. R 74. 



Black-and-white Creopor. 



92. Mniotilta varia borealis (Nutt.) Ridg. b — . c — . R 74a. (?) 



Small-billed Creeper. 



03. Parula americana (L.) Bp. b ics. c 58. R 88. 



Blue Yollow-backod Warbler. 



04. Parula nigrilora Coucs. b — . c — . r 89a. 



Sennett's Warbler. 



05. Protonotaria citrea (Gm.) Bd. b igo. c 59. r 75. 



Prothonotary Warbler. 



06. Helmintherus vermivorus (Gm.) Bp. b 178. c go. r 77. 



Worm-eating Warbler. 



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j iii^li^ 



91. Mnl-S-til'-ta v5r'-I-5. Or. /uvfox, mosB, nnd riAAa, I pluck, or TiArrfj, plucked. Ncitlier 



the ortliograpliy nor tlie nppliciibility of tlic word ia obvious. Vicillot -.vrote sometimes 

 mniotilta, soiiiutimcs mniotilla. Tlie conjectured iij)|)lieation is to tlie weaving of moss into 

 a nest. — Lat. varia, variegated, as this bird is witli black and white. 



92. M. V. bOr-e-a'-lIs. Lat. borealis, northern. See Phi/lluscopiis, No. 32. 



Not in the orig. ed. of the Clicck List. 



03. Pa'-riS-15 5m-6r-l-ca'-n5. Lat. pimtUi, diminutive from ]mrus, a titmouse, 7. v., No. 44. 

 — Lat. americana, American. America is generally supposed to derive its name from 

 Amerigo Vespucci, Latini/ed Amcricus Vcspucius ; and is said to have first appeared in 

 the form of Ammica I'lovincin, on a map published at Biisle in l.')22. The counter-argu- 

 ment is : (1) The name if from the Italian navigator's would have been from his surname. 

 (2) HJs nnmo was Albcrico Vespuzio. (3) Amcric, or Amerique, is the native name of 

 a range of mountains in Nicaragua. " It is most plausible that the State of Central 

 America, where we find the name Americ signifying great mountain, gave the continent 

 its name." (Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, i, p. f)02.) The author cited seeks to establish a 

 connection witli tlie Hindu Morn, or Meriiah, of similar signification. 



94. P. nlg-rl-15'-r5. Lat. niijer, black; and lorum, a thong, strap, a bridle-rein; lionco the 

 cheeks, along wliich tlie bridle passes. The " lore " has become in ornitliology a techni- 

 cal name for a small space on the side of a bird's head between the eye and the bill. 



Not in the first ed. of the Ciieck List. Lately discovered in Te.xas by Jlr. George B. 

 Sennett. See Coues, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., iv, 1878, p. 11. 



05. Pr5-t8-n6-ta'-rI-5 cit'-r6-5. Low Latin for prothonotary ; from Gr. irpiiroy, first, and Lat. 

 notarius, a scribe, a notary-public. The bird is le Protonoliiire of Buffon, Latinized by 

 Gmelin na prolonotariiis in 1788; but for tlie name, as Pennant observed in 1785, " the 

 reason has not reached us." — Lat. citrea, of or pertaining to the citron, in allusion to the 

 yellow color. 



96. Hel-min-the'-rQs ver-ml'-vSr-Qs. Gr. tA/uivs, genitive i\fxtveos, and Biipiov, from O'fip, an 

 animal. The word is very incorrectly coniimunded. Its full form is lielmintholherinm ; 

 we may perhaps reduce it by elision to helmintherus, but helmithcrus, as originally written 

 by Rafinesque, is inadmissible. This is the accepted derivation; but we may suggest a 

 short cut to the same etymon, e^p, an animal; iXfiiv6n9i\pas, a worm-hunter, l-ke t .2 

 actual opvtdoBiipas, a fowler, in Aristoph., Av. 62 ; being t'A/uii'i and fl^o, the chase, from 

 6ilp; though we hesitate to act upon this by writing Ilelmintheras. — Lat. vermivorus, 

 worm-eating, from vermis, a worm (verto, I turn, in the sense of squirming or wriggling) 

 and voro, I eat. 



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