XXIX 
CRESTS OR TOP-KNOTS 
The heads of birds are variously adorned by Nature. 
Some of them are ornamented witli a fleshy comb, 
others possess wattles or gills about the gape, some 
have horny additions known as helmets, and many 
have tufts of feathers known as top-knots or crests and, 
in a few instances, as crowns. It is a distinction in the 
bird world to possess a crest. Ornithologists usually 
refer to this embellishment when they confer names on 
the happy possessors of top-knots. All animals and 
plants receive at the hands of zoologists and botanists 
two names, one generic, a noun, and the other specific, 
an adjective : these are chosen from the Latin language 
for the convenience of naturalists throughout the 
world. 
The names of living things are not the same in 
all countries and often vary in different parts of the 
same country, but educated men throughout the world 
are familiar with Latin, which was formerly the 
universal language of science, therefore the application 
of generic and specific names derived from this 
language enables a zoologist to know the genus to 
which the animal belongs. The specific name often 
signifies some fact connected with. it. Such reference 
O 
in the case of a bird may convey information concern¬ 
ing its size, colour, length of legs, breadth of wings, 
shape of the tail, size of the bill and other details con- 
