THE ORNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 43 



us; that we never could, by any possibility, milk 

 goats; nor, said lie, were we the least likely to 

 wound cattle with our bills. He said very true ; but 

 prejudice is strong, and a bad name was still fastened 

 upon us. The Fern Owl was still called the Goat- 

 sucker in English, and in Latin Caprimulgus, which 

 keeps up the error. Let me entreat you, kind friend 

 of buds, whenever you talk Latin about me, rather 

 to call me Nyctichelidon. This is my latest name, — 

 given me by a gentleman who knows me well; and 

 I see no objection to it, except that it may be a 

 little hard to spell and pronounce at first sight ; but 

 for the sake of justice, you, I am confident, will soon 

 overcome that small difficulty. Then, in English, 

 you may always call me the Fern Owl." p. 156. 

 The spirit in which this is written is admirable, but 

 the names proposed as substitutes for the old appel- 

 lations are fully as calculated to mislead as those. 

 The bird is not a Swallow (Hirundo) as Nyctichel- 

 idon imports, neither is it an Owl (Strix.) We are 

 told that the gentleman who gave the name Nycti- 

 chelidon knows the bird well, but if we judge of his 

 knowledge of the bird by the appellation he has 

 bestowed, it will be pronounced lamentably deficient. 

 However, it is the principle I advocate — that ob- 

 tained, the rest will folloAV smoothly. Let us next 

 see what Bewick says: — "To avoid as much as 

 possible, perpetuating error, we have dropped the 

 name Goatsucker, which has no foundation but in 

 ignorance and superstition, and have adopted one, 



