erate ae. Os BiOuN {ByU, LLY BeT IN 13 
American mammals bear Indian names—moose, chipmunk, raccoon, opossum, 
skunk. But the North American Indians’ only sure contribution to Ameri- 
can bird names is the squaw in old-squaw, with sora and dowitcher obscure 
probabilities. From Brazilian natives come ani directly and caracara and 
tanager indirectly. And that is all. 
Celtic, once the principal mother-speech of western Europe, has shown 
a general lack of vitality. Gull may be Celtic; ptarmigan surely is of at 
least mediate Celtic origin. The trail leads from modern English to lowland 
Scots, to Gaelic, to possibly non-celtic obscurity. The “p” has no business 
being there. A late 17th century pedant, under the influence of some 
Greek words really beginning with “pt” (ef. pterodactyl, ptomaine), 
clapped it on arbitrarily. 
Background movements between non-English languages deserve brief 
mention. Credited to French above, but going back to old High German, 
are heron, egret, warbler; going back to Greek are phalarope and pheasant; 
going back to Italian are avocet and paroquet; going back to Latin are 
cormorant, cardinal, falcon, plover, and others. Ibis is ultimately Egyptian. 
Other borrowings outside of English territory have been noted elsewhere. 
When bird names are tabulated according to date of entry into English, 
several bulges become evident. First, before 1000, are the hardy Old 
English terms. Then, in the 14th century, is the French flood as England’s 
Norman aristocrats turned to English. The latter part of the 17th century 
showed unprecedented activity in compounding—bluebird, flycatcher, mock- 
ingbird, shearwater, turnstone, and others date from this period. The last 
time of active growth was 1750-1850, with compounds (cowbird, kingbird, 
pintail, sapsucker, etc.) again leading, followed by echoic names, French, 
and modern Latin. 
Inactive periods were 1000-1200, 1400-1600 (marked chiefiy by about 
half the insoluble etymologies, and by a few early compounds such as 
blackbird and woodpecker), and 1850 to date. The list of the last arrivals, 
seven between 1850 and 1890, is an interesting index of late discoveries 
or of re-naming. In chronological order it is: bob-white, road-runner, 
dowitcher, longspur, poor-will, limpkin, and, last of all, dickcissel (1887). 
Names are but infrequently dislodged, however. Exceptional instances 
include quail largely replaced by bob-white, carau by lmpkin, black- 
throated bunting by dickcissel, bald-face by baldpate, shoveller by spoonbill 
(shoveller was then applied to a duck), darter and anhinga, in part, by 
water-turkey. Popular nomenclature of birds has experienced some little 
growth in recent decades, but it is not concerned with “last names.” 
The names of eastern America’s birds, it is clear, in general antedate 
the observation of birds in America. About half the words have substantial- 
ly equivalent denotations in both hemispheres. A fourth have undergone 
change of meaning in crossing the Atlantic, and a final fourth are of 
New World origin. 
In general, cosmopolitan and oceanic birds have the same names in 
America as in England: auk, booby, cormorant, mallard, phalarope, ete. 
General surnames of large families represented on both sides of the ocean 
