n8 Official Checklist of the Birds of Australia. 
AILUROEDUS means “ cat -singer ” or “ cat-voiced ” from Greek ailouros, cat 
and oidos , singer. 
albogularis, fiavocinctus : Names similarly formed from two Latin words should 
be spelt with i (not o) as the connecting vowel between the two root 
words ; albifrons, flaviventer and nvjricinzta are correct. The letter o is cor¬ 
rectly used in this position in most names similarly formed from Greek roots. 
ALCYONE : A daughter of .Lulus, the wind god, who, when her husband Ceyx 
(which word, also, is used as the name for a genus of kingfishers) was drowned, 
threw herself into the sea and both were changed by the gods into kingfishers. 
Alkuone is the feminine form of the Greek alkuon, a seabird. 
anstheta : An old name from which it seems the letter s must have been lost 
long ago. G. anaisthetos = without sense. Anous , another generic name in 
this family, has a similar meaning. 
ANMINGA : According to Marcgrave, who first described the bird, this was its 
name among the natives of Brazil. 
ANTHUS : Lhoro are two Greek words anthos, one meaning a small bird; Cala- 
nianthus , and the other a flower, A rithochcsra, Myzaniha. 
APLONIS : No derivation has been found. The word suggests Apollotiis, from 
Apollo, the bun. The bird is a “ shining ” bird. This is only a guess. 
ARSES : Probably from the French language. Origin has not been found. 
ATRICHORNIS : Prom two Greek words, ornis, bird, and atriclios , without hair 
or bristles. An earlier name was Atrichia, which had already been used for 
another bird. “ Gape wholly devoid of bristles ” (Gould). 
AVOCET ! See Becurvirostra. 
basalis : See pccloralis . 
BATHILDA: From a girl’s name (French), first used by Prince Lucicn Bonaparte 
for a pigeon. 
BAZA : Latinized from Hindustani Baz, goshawk. The same word is used in 
Persia for the Peregrine Falcon. The names used by falconers for different 
hawks travelled far beyond their countries of origin in mediaeval times. It 
seems that the name Baz used by the falconers of Bokhara for the Peregrine 
was somehow transferred to the Goshawk in India. 
berigora : “ The native name of this bird, which we have adopted as its specific 
name. — Vigors and Horsfield. 
BIZ I UR A ; The origin of Bizi has not been traced. It may bo fanciful. 
boobook : Native name boobook.” Watling’s note to his picture of the bird. 
(btnr boobook Latham, 1801.) 
B0T ^ r ^ lJS : Seem8 tn be a combination of two Latin words for bull. Belon, in 
connected the French name of the bird, bvtor, with a bird described by 
l liny that imitates the lowing of oxen (bourn). What seems to have been a 
similar bird in France that gave the same lowing sound was called taurus 
(bull). I hen the two words were joined— bo-taurus. Sir Walter Buffer says, 
At eventide it startles the car with its loud booming notes, slowlv repeated, 
and resembling the distant roar of an angry buff. It seems to imitate boatum 
taun the bellowing of a bull” (Willoughby). 
budgerygah: From Betcherrygah, “ the native name ” (Gould). 
Literally, hull nose, from the large bill. TheGreek intensive particle 
du (torn), big, used in scientific names and attached at the front of the word 
it emphasizes is derived from Greek bous , buff. It is noteworthy that in 
English too, the word buff is sometimes used in the same way to denote size ; 
e.g., bullfinch, bullant, bullfrog. 
BUTORIDES . I his name is from the same source as Botauris through the French 
outor , a bittern. 
derVved* ^ a ^ Illze( ^ ^ rom Malay Kakatua, from which our word Cockatoo is 
