44 ORCHARD ORIOLE. 
their different changes of color. In this, conjecture, however, the 
worthy naturalist has likewise been mistaken; and I shall endeavor 
to point out the fact, as well as the source of this mistake. 
And here I cannot but take notice of the name which naturalists 
have bestowed on this bird, and which is certainly remarkable. 
Specific names, to be perfect, ought to express some peculiarity, 
common to no other of the genus; and should, at least, be consistent 
with truth; but, in the case now before us, the name has no one 
merit of the former, nor even that of the latter to recommend it, and 
ought henceforth to be rejected as highly improper, and calculated, 
like that of Goatsucker, and many others equally ridiculous, to perpet- 
uate that error from which it originated. The word bastard, among 
men, has its determinate meaning; but when applied to a whole 
species of birds, perfectly distinct from any other, originally deriving 
their peculiarities of form, manners, color, &c., from the common 
source of all created beings, and perpetuating them, by the usual 
laws of generation, as unmixed and independent as any other, is, to 
call it by no worse name, a gross absurdity. Should the reader be 
displeased at this,I beg leave to remind him, that, as the faithful 
historian of our feathered tribes, I must be allowed the liberty of vin- 
dicating them from every misrepresentation whatever, whether origi 
nating in ignorance or prejudice, and of allotting to each respective 
species, as far as I can distinguish, that rank and place in the great 
order of nature to which it is entitled. 
To convince the foreigner, (for Americans have no doubt on the 
subject,) that the present is a distinct species from the Baltimore, it 
might be sufficient to refer to the representation of the latter, in Fig. 
3, and to Fig. 14, of this work. I will, however, add, that I con- 
clude this bird to be specifically different from the Baltimore, from the 
following circumstances: its size —it is less, and more slender; its 
colors, which are different, and very differently disposed ; the form of its 
bill, which is sharper pointed, and more bent; the form of its tail, 
which is not even, but wedged; its notes, which are neither so full 
nor so mellow, and uttered with much more rapidity; its mode of 
building, and the materials it uses, both of which are different; and, 
lastly, the shape and color of the eggs of each, (see Figs. a and b,* 
which are evidently unlike. If all these circumstances — and I coul 
enumerate a great many more — be not sufficient to designate this as 
a distinct species, by what criterion, I would ask, are we to discrim- 
inate between a variety and an original species, or to assure ourselves, 
that the Great Horned Owl is not, in fact, a Bastard Goose, or the 
Carrion Crow a mere variety of the Humming Bird ? 
These mistakes have been occasioned by several causes; princi- 
pally by the changes of color to which the birds are subject, and the 
distance of Europeans from the-country they inhabit. Catesby, it is 
true, while here, described and figured the Baltimore, and perhaps 
was the first who published figures of either species; but he entirely 
omitted saying any thing of the female, and, instead of the male and 
female of the present species, as he thought, he has only figured tHe 
male in tw» of his different dresses ; and succecding compilers have 
* Referring 10 Wilson's original edit.on. 
