Official Checklist of the Birds of Australia. 125 
ORTHONYX : Gk. straight claw:—“from the straightness of its claws” (Tem- 
minck). 
osprey : See Pandion . 
ostralegus means oyster-catcher. G. ostreon , oyster, and legein , to gather. 
The inaccurate name Oystercatcher is said to have been first used in America 
in 1731 by Oatesby, who apparently believed that the bird fed on oysters. 
Seapie was Willughby’s name for the bird — a name still used in parts of 
Britain. 
PANDION : A mythical king of Athens, father of Procne (Progne, swallow), and 
Philomela (nightingale). He was changed into an Osprey. ( See H ydroprogne). 
The word osprey—from F. ossifrage, L. ossifraga —means bonebreaker arid has 
been transferred erroneously to this bird from the Lammergeyer or Bearded 
Vulture of Europe, which has the habit of breaking bones by dropping them from 
a height on to a rock or a stone. According to Pliny, this bird was the cause 
of the death of the Greek dramatist, Aeschylus, by mistaking his bald head 
for a stone and dropping a tortoise on to it. 
paradoxa : This bird — the yellow wattle-bird — was originally considered to be a 
crow — not an orthodox but a paradoxical crow—and was called Corvus 
paradoxus (Daudin, 1801). Later on Vigors and Horsfield gave it a good 
name, Anthochaira f meaning delighting in flowers. Anlhos , flower, chairein , 
to rejoice, which may now give way to Creadion , a small piece of flesh (G. 
diminutive of creas t flesh), from the bird’s wattles. 
parrot: According to Professor Skeat, means “little Peter,” a nickname given to 
the bird, from French Perrola Pierrot , diminutive of Pierre, Peter. The word 
has the same origin as Petrel (q. v.). 
pectoral is : Man}’ specific names that are Latin adjectives are formed from the 
Latin name of an exterior part of a bird. Many of these end in a few 
in “ arisP The name signifies that that particular part in the species bearing 
the name is conspicuous or note worthy. Thus the word pertoralis which means 
simply “ breasted ” (from Latin pectus breast) is the specific name of a slate¬ 
breasted Rail (RaUus) y a golden-breasted whistler (Pachycephala), a chestnut¬ 
breasted whiteface (Aphelocephala), a banded-breasted Houeyeater (Myzomela) 
and a white-breasted Finch ( Donacola ). Similarly temporalis , browed, is the 
name of a red-browed Finch ; humcralis, shouldered, the name of a bar- 
shouldered Dove; basalis , based, the name of a cuckoo with base of tail con¬ 
spicuously coloured, and there are many others — frontalis , dorsalis , gutturalis 9 
lateralis , &c., &c. 
PELTOHYAS : G. pelte , shield 4- hyas a name for plover. Ilyas aegyptius is the 
name of an Egyptian plover. The word Dotterel is said to be a diminutive 
of dolt or dote, meaning silly. The European Dotterel’s specific name 
“ morinellus ” (Linn.) is of kindred meaning. 
peregrinus : This name goes back to the thirteenth century — to the days of 
Falconry. Latin falco peregrinus meant “ pilgrim falcon ” so called because 
the young were not, as were the nidaces, taken from the nest, but were caught 
on the passage or “ pilgrimage ” from their breeding place. 
petrel : See Ralobcena. 
PHAETHON: (G. shining), son of Helios, the sun—aLinncean name. Dampier 
wrote of the bird “ it is never seen far without either Tropick.” Hence the 
name Tropic-bird and hence Linmeus’ name “ Phaethon because it keeps within 
the tropics like the sun.” 
• • 
phaeton : Leaves out the “ h.” This name was given by Hombron et Jacquinot. 
There is no h in the French word. 
PHALACROCORAX : Gk. bald crow, said to be “descriptive of the semblance 
of baldness produced by the white feathers of the head during the breeding 
season.” The word cormorant means seacrow, from French cormoran and Latin 
corvus marinus. The bird is still called “ cor marin ” and corvo marino in parts 
of France and Italy. 
