The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1907-12-13
TITLES OUT OF TONE
lncongruous Names an Observer
In Museum Noted.
BIRDS OF ANOTHER COLOR.

The Purple Finch. For Instance, Is Not
Purple. but Wine colored, and the
Great Blue Heron Is Gray--Flowers
With Fantastic Designations.
"The purple nuch," read the man.
as he stood before glass case Of
birds In science museum He squint.
ed at the bird and then remarked
scornfully "But the bird IS not pur.
pie; It Is wine color" In the next case
be encountered the label Great Blue
Heron" at the feet OF an extremely
long legged creature who was not blue
at ALL hut q Gecided gray. The neigh
Dor OF the ii 1. heron was the "grecn
heron" bird almost brown. with the
tlnieSt fecks OF green on &C. Only 10y
a big stretch OF the Imagination could
It be called green. A familiar looking
water bird bore the name "black
duck" although it was brown with its
wings tipped tawny shade In
the next case there were three birds
whose names the visitor read with dis.
approval One was the snowflake"
a small bird OF decided brownish
hue. Another was the purple grae.
kle." a brown bird with only the mer-
est suggestion Of purple And lastly
there was the "redstart." which was
not red at all but m undeniable
orange and black When he read the
next label. Rose Breasted GrosbecS."
and observed that only the throat or
the bird was rose color. while It's
breast was gray. the visitor hurried to
find the curator TO tell him how wrong
~ and absurdly birds were named
The curator laughed "Aly dear rel.
low" he protested. you have hap
pened on about The only birds In the
museum that are incorrectly named.
As a matter OF fact. the birds found In
this part Of the country are very well
named indeed aud you have picked
out only the exceptions. What could
be better named than the scarlet tana-
ger, the blueblrd the catbird, the yel-
low bird. the woodpocker. the phoebe.
the red winged hlackhlrd, the bobo-
link. etc? II you'll examine the wild
flowers you'll dnd much more incon-
gruous namcs For instance. there's
the oxeye daisy and, by the way. the
oxeYc dnisy Is the comman white
petalled daisy viii" the yellow center.
and not the yellow daisy with the
brown center, as is generally supposed
Now, cannot conceive how that little
flower appears Ike the eye OF an OK.
The black eyed Susan, commonly
known as the yellow daisy. Is better
named. but it is certainly extremely
fantastic II Is a crying shame that
n certain little sweet pale lavender
flower which grows profusely should
bear the hldeous name Of one lowered
cancer root because Its root vaguely
resembles cancer But the name
sticks
Then there Is the lady's slipper. Can
you Imagine a lady's slipper fashioned
like that? 1t is pouchy and clumsy.
and ITS name IS no compliment 20 the
fair sex. Another far fetched name Is
Solomons seal You know fhe flower
Is tiny greenish or creamy white az.
fair and is very unattractive IN ap-
pearance. something Ike wlntergreen
blossoms. Wen, il gets It's name from
its root, which bears q round scar left
Wy the broken Off old stalk which Is
so unlike the impression Of a seal that
II makes one wonder how any one
could possibly have seen the likeness.
The false Solomon's seal by the way.
Is disgracefully named. II is far pret
tier than the real Solomon's seal and
should have pretty name Of It's own.
Now, the name dogtooth violet Is
another bad one. In the first place the
flower does not at all resemble a tooth
Of any sort. and in the second place II
IS nothing at all Ike a violet. The
Wild geranium Is a fragile flower law
ender IN color, something on the hepat
lea tyne. only considerably larger, so
you can see how much likeness IL has
TO the sturdy garden geronium.
you've seen that crimson flower
which at a distance looks Hike a Wild
rose and whose leaves are much Ike
grape leaves and whose stems are very
sticky? Well, its name Is purple flow
erlng raspberry, while its color Is an
unmistakable crimson
"The blue vervain is a tall weed. with
tiny, homely flowers which grows IN
waste places beside the road and II
is purple not blue. The iron weed
has a queer Latin name which means
Mr.. Vernon, belonging to New York
and is named after an early English
botanlst Of New York state.
"How do you suppose those pink,
fragrant blossoms along the roads
which are near cousins 10 the garden
phlox got the name Of bouncing Betsi
II seems incongruous and dippant for
this dellcately tinted hJwer on the
other hand, who do you suppose gave
the name cowslips 10 the small flowers
OF the meadow Il Is certainly an ap-
proprlate one. but l wonder who con
ceived the pretty name"-New York
Tribune.