m 



CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



86 



493. Elanoides forficatus (L., 1758) Coues. b 34. c 337. k 426. 



Swallow-tailed Kite. 



494. Accipiter fuscus (Gm.) Bp. B 17. c 338. R 432. 



Sharp-sliinned Hawk; Pigeon Hawk. 



495. Accipiter cooperi Bp. n i5, ig. c 339. 11 431. 



Cooper's Hawk; Cliicken Hawk. 



496. Astur atricapillus (AVils.) Bp. B 14. c 340. R 433. 



American Goshawk. 



497. Astur atricapillus striatulus Ritlg. B — . c — . R 433a. (?) 



Western Goshawk, 



498. Falco sacer Forst. b — . c 341. r 4126. 



American Continental Gyrfalcon. 



C'd 



75, 



•pc 

 lilt 



493. El-an-8-i'-des for-fl-ca'-tQs. Lat, e/anns (see No. 402) and Gr. tlSos, resemblance. — For 



forjicdtus, see Milculus, No. 307. 



Tliis is Nauderux farcaliis of the orig. ed. See Coues, Bull. U. S. Gcol. Surv. Terr., 

 iv, No. 1, 1878, p. 42. 



494. Ac-cIp'-I-tfir fus'-cQs. Lat. accipiter, a pencral name for a hawk ; accipio, I take, seize ; 



from (/(/ and capio: Gr. kottto), of similar meaning. Some, however, derive the word 

 (as it seems to us, fancifully) from acuo and peto, i. c, the swift flyer. The root cap- is a 

 very general one for words denoting this idea of taking ; as in English accept, except, 

 captlic, capable, capaeims, &c. — hAi. fuscus, fuscous, dark-colored. 



495. A. coop'-6r-i. To William Cooper, of New York. 



496. As'-tur a-trl-ca-pil'-lQs. Lat. «s(h)', a hawk; evidently related to aster, a star; asterias, 



starry, I. f., speckled ; French (ii/(oi()- is the same. The Kuropean Goshawk was called 

 Asterias and " Star-hawk " by some of the old ornithologists, and the term aartpiat 

 Upal is classic. The Italian is astore or usturo, and some dialectic form of this is said to 

 give the name to the Avores or Azores Islands, from the abundance of liawks there. — 

 For atrirapillus, see Parus, No. 44. The word e/os- prefi.xed to hawk is Anglo-Saxon ; 

 goshafoc is goose-hawk; /»'/•>. and many similar words, are related to fuucon,jhUon, falco, 

 which see. No. 4'.)8. 



497. A. a. strl-a'-tu-lus. Lat. .s7/-w?h/i(s, diminutive of s^nn^Hs, striate, streaked, striped ; imply- 



ing not the smallncss of the streaked object, but the fineness of the stripes tliemselves. 



Not in the orig. ed. of the Check List. Since described by Uidg., Hist. N. A. B., iii, 

 1874, p. 240. 

 493. Fal'-co s5'-c6r. Gr. (pdK'iwv, L:it. film, a falcon, from the ftl.r, fakis, a sickle, scythe; in 

 allusion to the /i(/(((/i' form of the hooked beak. The Fnglish is directly from /k/co, and 

 the word reappears in many languages : Vr. faucim ; Ital.filroiie ; Sjian. Imlron, &c. — The 

 word Gi/rfiili-oii or Jerfalnm has much e.\ercised the ingenuity of the dictionaries. To 

 us the etymology seems clear and indisijutable. It is fotmd in many forms, as ije.r-, r/ir-, 

 .W""> ;!"'o-> "'''-. iif'-, nud this U'ads directly to Up6s, divine, sacred, noble, ausjiicions, 

 chief, &c. ; I'cpcus, a priest; when( ^ h'pa^, the actual tireck word for a hawk, as used in 

 divination, and therefore sacred. The idea is the same as that in hierarch, &c. The 

 Kiiglish Gyrfalcon or Jcrfalcon is therefore a mere transliteration of lliernfiU-o. It 

 the same spirit, Steenstrup recently made a genus (!ip-alca for the principal bird of the 

 auk tribe, already known in many vcrnaeidars by a corresponding e]>ithet. Speculations 

 respecting 7//r- as meaning (///)h.<!, a whirl, from the hawk's gyrations, are superfluous.^ 

 Lat. S'lrrr sacred, consecrated, sanctified, &c. ; the root sac- is the Greek root ay, as seen 

 in iiyius, ayt'6!. 



By the above name wc indicate the continental Gyrfalcon of Arctic America, corre- 



M 



