A ROUGH TENTATIVE LIST OF THE BIRDS OF INDIA. 77 



in later Attic used as feminine, especially when " a hen'"' was 

 talked of, but speaking of birds generally, and taking the whole 

 range of Greek literature opvig, was as a rule treated as 

 masculiue. Under these circumstances no reasonable objec- 

 tion can be raised to treating all such compounds uniformly and 

 invariably as masculine, despite the present popular tendency 

 to treat most of them as feminine. 



But other words (e.g. TrlpS/^, grus, &c.,) were used absolutely 

 indiscriminately at all times as both masculine and feminine, 

 and here as some rule is necessary to ensure uniformity, 

 I have had to adopt, what the ancients ungallantly termed, 

 the nobler gender. 



Some words again are masculine or feminine according as 

 you spell them, e.g., JEgialites, masculine, and ySgialitis, femi- 

 nine ; both forms are equally correct, and we can then only go 

 back to the original definition of the genus and see which form 

 was used. In this particular case, Boie, who gave the name in 

 1823, used the feminine form ; Kaup, quite unwarrantably 

 changed it to the masculine in 1839. I have of course kept it 

 as feminine. 



Other words, again, are not really classical, but are only 

 formed, often irregularly, on the model of some classical com- 

 pound or derivative {e.g. ^rWzco/a), and here the gender can 

 only be guessed with reference to that of its supposed prototype 

 (in this particular case presumably agricola). I have treated 

 all generic names ending in cola as masculine, despite the fact 

 that most authors treat '* Saxicola''' as feminine. 



Others again, perhaps intended to be classical, are unintelli- 

 gible. It is impossible, for instance, to guess what Bonaparte 

 meant by the word Chettusia. Agassiz and others seem to 

 have supposed that it was intended for a derivative of p(^a«T>j 

 a mane, and have spelt it Chatusia, but it is impossible to arrive 

 at this latter by any rule or analogy, and it seems best in this 

 and many similar cases to treat the name as a nonsense word, 

 merely assuming its feminality from its termination, to secure 

 euphony in the specific name. 



The Code rule for converting Greek into Latin words will be 

 found quoted, S. F., V., 370. To this, as well as other rules, 

 I have endeavoured to adhere consistently. 



According to the Code, ov terminal should become um ; how 

 is it that no one hardly is bold enough to give us Malacopteo'um, 

 Trochahpterum, Polt/plectrum, Sfc. ? In the majority of cases 

 the rule is commonly adhered to ; in these and a few other cases 

 it is ignored by almost every one. It seems to me that if you 

 have a rule you should stick to it, and I have therefore adopt- 

 ed in every such case the spelling prescribed by the Code. 



