74 



Ingersoll on Common Names of American Birds. [Apnl 



States, however, the bird's resemblance to the Turdtis pilaris of 

 Europe came strongly to the mind of the early writers. Hence 

 one finds in old books like those of Brickell, Lawson, Catesby 

 and so on, that it is most often spoken of as the Field-fair, Field- 

 fear, or Fieldfare; of these the last is the proper spelling, and 

 means one who travels or fares in the fields ; the name is yet 

 heard occasionally. 



More distinct recognition of the bird as a Thrush, together 

 with its two striking characteristics — redbreast and migratory 

 conduct — gives us : Red-breasted Thrush, Merle* ou Rouge 

 a-orge du Canada, Migi^atory Thrush, Merle erratique, Robin 

 Thrush, Grive de Canada, Omshel (Pennsylvania German — 

 a corruption of Amsel, "Thrush"). 



I have been able to collect many Indian names (untranslated) 

 for this bird, the Ojibway and Navajo words seeming onomato- 

 poeic : Ope^chee or Pechee (Ojibway), Kailee che (Navajo — 

 note resemblance to preceding!), Ispokxvah (Creek), Jiskoko 

 (Iroquois), Chau7zco6shah (Assiniboine). The Ojibways had 

 very pretty legends connected with the Robin, making it a bearer 

 of tidings from supernal sources, and so forth. 



Nothing more calls for special mention until we come to Mimus 

 polyglottus. Like its Latin name in both parts, its English and 

 French appellations chiefly refer to its remarkable powers of 

 mimicry, and date far back, for this was one of the most striking 

 of our birds to the new comers. Thus, in the "Collections of the 

 American Antiquarian Society," IV, 24: ^'■Artatnockes, a bird 

 that imitateth and useth the sounds and tones of almost all birds 

 in the Countrie." We have Mitnic Ihrush, Mockbird, Mock- 

 ingbird, Moquer or La Merle moquer, and E7tglish Mocking- 

 bird (to distinguish it from the " French" Mockingbirds of the 

 Southern States — chiefly Harporhynchus rufus). Its sweet- 

 ness of voice apart from mimicry, and its habit of singing fre- 

 quently after sunset or in the moonlight, caused it to be called in 

 the English West Indies, Nightingale, and in the other islands 

 Rosignol. This last word is only a modification of Rosignor, or 

 Lord of the Rose — the Spanish name of the Nightingale; it is 

 probably of Moorish descent, and has been applied to other 

 American birds as well as this. The Mexican (west coast) name 

 — , Sinsonte, is also in alkision to the bird's voice. 



* Merle, "Blackbird," is the Frencii form of the Latin generic word Merida. 



