ooted Tringa, Edw. Red-necked Phalarope, Gould. Lobe-foot, Selby.
Coot-foot, Fleming.

I am a little shocked at my own choice of name in this case, not quite
pleasing my imagination with the idea of a Coot-footed Fairy. But since
Athena herself thinks it no disgrace to take for disguise the likeness
either of a sea-gull or a swallow, a sea-fairy may certainly be thought
of as condescending to appear with a diving bird's foot; and the rather
that, if one may judge by painters' efforts to give us sight of
Fairyland, the general character of its inhabitants is more that of
earthly or marine goblins than aerial ones.

Now this is strange! At the last moment, I find this sentence in
Gould's introduction: "The generic terms Phalaropus and Lobipes have
been instituted for the _fairy-like_ phalaropes."

XI.A.

TITANIA INCONSTANS. CHANGEFUL FAIRY.

Tringa Lobata. L.
Phalaropus Fulicarius (Gray Phalarope). G.
Phalaropus Lobatus. Latham.

"Phalarope with indented festoons," English trans. of Buffon.--It is of
no use to ring the changes farther.

XII.

152. RALLUS AQUATICUS. WATER RAIL.

Rallus Aquaticus. L., G., Y.
Rale d'Eau. F.
Samet-Hennle--Velvet (silken?) hen. Ges.
Schwartz-Wasser-Hennle. T.?
Vagtel-Konge. Danish.
Porzana, or Forzana, at Venice.
Brook-Ouzel--Velvet Runner. B.

I take this group of foreign names from Buffon, but question the German
one, which must belong to the Water Hen; for the Rail is not black, but
prettily gray and spotted, and I think Buffon confuses the two birds,
as several popular names do. Thus, the Velvet Hen also, I fancy, is the
Water Hen; but Bewick's Velvet-Runner partly confirms it to the Rail. I
find nothing about velvet said in describing the plumage.

I leave Linnaeus's for our Latin name, under some protest. Rallus is a
late Latin adjective, meaning 'thin,' and if understood as 'Thin-bird,'
or 'Lath-like' bird, would be reasonable; but if it stand, as it does
practically, for Railing or Rattling bird, it is both bad Latin, and,
as far as I can make out, calumnious of the usually quiet creature.

Note also, for a connected piece of scholarship, that our English verb
to 'rail' does not properly mean to scold, or to abuse noisily; it is
from 'railler,' and means to 'rally,' or jest at, which is often a much
wickeder thing to do, if the matter be indeed no jest.

Note also of Samet or Samite, its derivation from late Greek [Greek:
examitos], silken stuff woven of