if r" 



90 



CHECK LIST OF NOHTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



f i'.ii 



I n 



632. Aqtiila chrysaetus (L.) Cuv. B 39. r aoi. R 449. 



Golden Hafflo. 



533. Haliaetus albicilla (L.) Lofidi. n 42. c — . u 452. (o.) 



Wliite-talled Kagle; Sea li^aKle. 



534. Haliaetus leucocephalus (L.) S.ivig. u 41, 4,3. c 302. 11 451. 



Wliitc-lieaded Eagle ; Itald Kaglo. 



635. Polyljorus cheriway (Jacq.) Cab. 45. c 3fi3. R 423. 



Caracara Kagle. 



Jl/irptjid or Iliirpics wcro fabulous monstors, ouiliodying tlic idea of female rapacilj' as 

 birds of prey, with croul<i'il taioiis aud licali (apirr;). 



Not in the orig. ed. of tliu t'licck List ; latily aseertaiiu'd to occur in Texas. See 

 Oswald, Am. Nat., 187H, p. 151 ; and Ridg., I'r. Nat. Mus., iii, 18W(), j). L"J1. 



53S. A'-quH-S chrys-a-E'-tus. Lat. ar/uila, an eagle. Tlio etymology is disputed. It is given 

 by some, without qualKication, as from (ir. wkvs, I-at. acer, ucior, sharp, swift, from Jnr 

 or y/Vii-. Some say from ikiuHiis, dark, swarthy ; otiiers, as related to nr/iii/<>, the north 

 wind ; others from Gr. ayKvKos, crooked, hooked, as the bird's beak is: this would corre- 

 spond to the derivation of uri/ps, ypvij/, a grillin, from ypvirSs, bent, hooknosed. It is 

 conjectured, also, from oy/cuArj, the curve of the limb, or the curved limb, with wliicdi the 

 bird, as Jove's lightning-bearer, grasped the thunder-l)olts. S(une allied forms of the 

 word, in which 7 appears instead of the 7, as iti/iiila, <ii;/lr, cwjlr, favor the supposition 

 that the name has somethiiig to do with the great wings of the bird. — Cr. xpucai'Tor or 

 Xpwi'f'ros, golden eagle ; xP"<f^'< golden, dtrtis, eagle. See Jhtlkietiis, No. 5;J3. 



633. H51-I-a-e'-tiis al-bl-cil'-lS. Gr. SAj, genitive oA(<s, salt ; the (salt) sea ; and aero's or aTjTtJi 



or a'lfTos, nn eagle; there is also the actual Greek aAidfras or aAiaifros, for the "sea- 

 eagle," that is, the osprey. There is also the actual Latin transliteration " halla-etos," 

 for the same bird. So many vowels coming together, with such variation in the original 

 Greek, has kept the orthography incessantly Huctiuiting. Savigny, who was a classical 

 scholar, as well as an ornithologist, originally spelled the genus he founded llallavim. 

 This is perfectly correct, in fact, the poetic form, as transliterated from aKiaUrot, with 

 only the usual and proper change of Greek at into Latin a;. Many purists keep to this 

 Bpelling, which is perfectly defensible, and has the advantage of being that used by the 

 founder of the genus. But, as Ilaldeman remarks, however desirable llidta&ns may be 

 in poetical writing, it is more consonant with a strict scientific spirit to simplify the 

 word into Ilalinvtus, deriving it in this case from oerdj or otjto'i. We accept and adopt this 

 form upon such understaiuling. Having settled this, tlic next question arises respecting 

 the quantity of the vowels, and accentuation of the syllables. If derived from afrdj, 

 the word would be Iliiha'vliiK ; if from otjto's, it would be IJalidi'liis. We prefer the latter. 

 In any event, the form "Haliaetus," in four syllables, is inadnnssible: the word must 

 have at least five syllables. But ornithologists maj- be forgiven for anything in this 

 case, seeing that the grammarians have disputed it for some centuries. — Lut. alliirilUi, 

 white-tailed. See Molnrilla, No. 80. 



This species, though frequently attributed to North America, has of late years been 

 dropped. It is now restored, on the strength of its occurrence in Greenland, though not 

 elsewhere in North America that we know of. Not in the orig. ed. of the Check List. 



634. H. leu-c8-c6ph'-a-lQs. Gr. \evK6s, white, and Kcipakii, head. 



635. P6l-y'-bfir-iSs cheriway. Gr. iroKv&Spos, eating a great deal, very voracious. — Cheriway 



and Caracara are both barbarous words, the meaning of which we know not : from some 

 South American dialect. 



This stands in the orig. ed. as P. (harus var. auduboni. 



