Voi-vm-] stray Feathers. 39 



moored there, also on the piles which have been driven into the 

 swampy flat. It is very unusual to see this species in quantity 

 about in the town, as it usually keeps away in small companies 

 along the river or among the trees of the bush. They appear to 

 have reached northern Tasmania in much larger numbers than 

 usual during the past spring and summer, as a friend of Mr. 

 Thompson's who lives out some miles from the city on a sheep- 

 run, and who also is a keen observer, found that the Tree- 

 Swallow had driven the ordinary Swallows {Ht'miido neoxena) 

 from their nests under his verandah, and, having lined the nests 

 with gum leaves, had proceeded to lay and incubate therein, 

 Mr. Thompson saw a clutch of their eggs from this place ; they 

 were three in number, and he describes them as much rounder 

 than those of the Swallow and very prettily marked. This 

 proceeding of ousting the Hirundo from its mud structure and 

 usurping the same for breeding purposes is most unusual with 

 the PetrocJielidon, as far as our experience goes. Within my own 

 knowledge, it always bred, on the North-West Coast, high up in 

 holes of dead gum-trees, and never seemed to care for the 

 proximity of a town, thus differing in toto from the other 

 species. 



Spine-tailed Swift {Chcetura caudacutd). — This fine bird has 

 the peculiarity in some seasons of not making its appearance 

 across the Strait until the end of summer. I have seen them 

 from Mt. Bischoff, after a storm, up very high in the air, dashing 

 along in their splendid strong flight, in the month of February, 

 none having been noted previously. Mr. Thompson had not 

 observed any this season when he wrote at the end of February, 

 but on the 15th March he saw two pairs over the Cataract Hill, 

 in showery weather with a north-east wind. After circling over 

 the hill for some time they made away to the south. — H. 

 Stuart Dove. Moonee Ponds, 27/5/08. 



Forgotten Feathers. 



By J. R. M'Clymont, M.A., Hobart. 



The Derivation of the Word Penguin and the Bird 

 Denoted by the Name Pijlstaert. — " Penguin " may come 

 to us from Latin through French, either from pingiiis, fat, or 

 from pitigiie, fat between the skin and the flesh. There are two 

 forms of the word in French — pingnin and pingoiiin. The final 

 in is merely a substantival and adjectival affix. Pingui is 

 employed by Francois Pyrard, whose Discours du voyage des 

 Frani;ois aux Indes Orietitales was published in Paris in 161 1, 

 but it is evident from the context that he does not designate 

 a Penguin by this name. Clusius, whose Exoticorum libri decern 

 was published in 1605, employs Pinguins as if it were late 



