BULLETIN 
OP THE 
NUTTALL OENITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
Vol. II. APRIL, 1877. No. 2. 
COKRECTIONS OF NOMENCLATURE IN THE GENUS SIURUS. 
BY DR. ELLIOTT CODES, U. S. A. 
The genus itself, and all three of its species, require names dif- 
ferent from those now generally used. 
I. Name of the Genus. — Originally written Seiurus by Swain- 
son, who invented the term ; also found under the forms Seiurus, 
by ignorance, inadvertence, or typographical blunder, and Siurus, the 
latter being correct. The word is compounded of the Greek o-fto), 
“ I wave or brandish,” and ovpou, “ tail ” ; it is precisely equivalent 
to the Latin mota-cilla, French hoche-queue, English wag-tail. 
According to the rule that Greek et becomes long V* in Latin, the 
word should be spelled Siurus, as was first done, I think, in the 
Ibis for 1859, by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, and A. and E. Newton, 
so nearly simultaneously that I do not know to which of these schol- 
ars we owe the corrected orthography. Seiurus has been objected 
to on account of its identity in sound, though not in orthography, 
etymology, or signification, with Seiurus, “ a squirrel,” by German 
purists, who have proposed to substitute Enieoeiehla or Hen\eo~ 
cielila ; but this is inadmissible : Siurus and Seiurus being as differ- 
ent as thee, objective case of second personal pronoun, and ike, 
definite article.f (Lat. Seiurus = Gr. a-Kiovpo^ — “ shadow-tail.”) 
* So, also, Melopelia, Chamcepelia, chrysoparia, etc. (accent the penult), in- 
stead of Melopeleia, Chamoepeleia, chrysopareia, etc. 
+ I am not of those rigid constructionists who require preservation of the 
original shape of a name, however faulty. While we cannot of course make 
actual substitution of one name for another without other than philological 
