104 



THE OOLOOIST. 



Smythes"' of the town of Alba. Gener- 

 ic, '-Smith," specific, "Smythe," sub- 

 specific, "de Smythe." 



Let us go back to the birds: No scien- 

 tific name was more beautiful — despite 

 its cumbersonjeness, which latter ac- 

 count, perhaps, for the labored flight of 

 the bird, than that of the Black Tern, 

 which name originated, 1 think, with 

 Gmelin," Ilydroclielidon" gives us a pic- 

 turesque, poetical name for the whole 

 genus of ''Sea-Swallows," iK Lan'formis" 

 denotes the species that is "gull-shaped 

 in structure; " Surinarnensis 1 '' limits the 

 sub-species connected by it. I fancy, — 

 to the particular locality where it was 

 first observed. One regrets that the 

 present imperious demand for terseness 

 should have strken out the specific 

 Lariformis— which is both poetical and 

 precise, and substituted for it the plain 

 prosaic ' nigrti" for, does not everybody 



know that this Tern is "Black ? " 



I take up m}^ A. O. U. check list and 

 refresh my mind concerning some of 

 the more beautiful "onomato poetic." 

 names, — The Loon, ''Urinator imber" 

 the "Storm beaten Diver." What finer 

 name for a bird which, when not in air, 

 is always on or under the water! 



Large-billed Pufflin, "Fratercula are- 

 tica glacialis" what a sociable fellow 

 this "Little Brother" must be in his 

 "icy arctic, regions." 



"Crested Anklet", "Simorhynchu's 

 cristatellus" — a "snub-nosed" bird with 

 a "little crest." (But how good Dr. C. 

 would haved railed, has he only thought 

 of it, at the bare latinity of ' ' Crisiaiell- 

 us," as he actually did at the execrable 

 Graseism of "Chondcstes" (Lark Finch) 

 which he would have told us, had not 

 his book been already big enough, 

 should have been "■.Chondredestes," or 

 eater of grass seeds.) 



Parasitic Jaeger, " Stercorarius para- 

 siticus* a "noisy flatterer, "the full mean- 

 ing of the graphic name can be known 

 only to those that are so fortunate as to 

 be able to study this bird in his haunts. 



Dr. Cones, who gives us a whole page 

 descriptive of the Jaeger's manner of 

 dress, would have conferred a favor 

 had he given us a paragraph on the 

 fellow's convivial and social habits. 



Least Petrel, u Hal-ohu-ptena micro 

 soma," a "sea (dwelling) swift-winged, 

 little body" — little, yet big enough to be 

 the only one of the Petrel tribe to re- 

 ceive this Generic name, for the privi- 

 lege of bearing which, who would not 

 be a PehelV 



One thing, will the Doctor tell us 

 about the Great Auk — We knoiv that he 

 was "wingless" — "Irnpennis" but why 

 was he "plautus? " 



Now, like the Auk, I must lay aside 

 my quill. If the above thoughts have 

 seemed neither pedantic nor obtrusive, 

 perhaps the readers of the Oologist 

 may hear again from 



Beta. 



Pointers on Making Bird Skins. 



The exchange notice you inserted for 

 me in January Oologist brought a great 

 many letters and offers of exchanges i 

 I have completed trades with some, aDd 

 with others, am still negotiating. One 

 trouble I much lament is the poor make- 

 up of skins by most collectors. 



The fountain head of trouble I be. 

 lieve to be in the books and papers 

 giving instructions on collecting. I 

 don't believe any man in this age of dis, 

 covery and improvement, can safely 

 claim to have such a perfect knowledge 

 of practical bird skin collecting and 

 taxidermy, that improvement in some 

 detail is not possible. If there is such a 

 person I would like to be informed of 

 the fact. Being honest in the above 

 statements. I don't feel presumptious 

 in attempting to point out what I be- 

 lieve to be faults in preparing skins, 

 and will humbly describe as well as 

 possible how I believe improvements 

 can be made, which will render collect- 

 ions of skins far more valuable, instrue 



