The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1907-12-05
TITLES OUT OF TONE
lncongruOus Names an Observer
In a Museum Noted.
BIRDS OF ANOTHER COLOR

The Purple Finch, For Instance, Is Not
Purple, but Wine colored, and the
Great Blue Heron is Gray--Fiowers
With Fantastic Designations.
"Tbe purple finch" 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; &c is wine color" In the next case
he encountered the label "Great Blue
Heron" at the feet of an extremely
long legged creature who was not blue
at all, but a decided gray. The neigh
Dor of the blue heron was the green
heron bird almost brown, with the
tlniest necks OF green on IT, Only by
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 It's
wings tipped n tawuy shade In
the next case there We're three birds
whose names the visitor read with dis
approval one was the Snowflake" {"
n small bird Of n decided brownish
hue. Another was the purple grac-
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 an undeniable
orange and black When he read the
next label. "Rose Breasted Grosbeck.
and observed that only the throat OF
the bird was rose color while its
breast was gray, the visitor hurried to
find the curator to tell him how wrong
ly and absurdly birds were named
The curator laughed. "My dear fell
low" he protested, 'you have hap
pened on about the only birds iu 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 and you have picked
out only the exceptions. What could
be better named than the scarlet tana-
ger, the bluebird, the catbird, the yell
low bird, the woodpecker the phoebe,
the red winged blackblrd. the bobo-
link, etc? If youll examine the wild
flowers you'H dnd much more incon-
gruous names For instance there's
tile oxeye dalsy-9nd. by the way. the
oxGYe daisX Is the common white
petailed daisy Win the yellow cenrrr.
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
certain little sweet pale lavender
flower which grows profusely should
bear Ihe hideous name OF one lowered
cancer root because its root vaguely
resembles a cancer. But the name
sticks
"Then there Is the lady's slipper. Can
you imagine a lady's slipper fashioned
Ike that? it is pouchy and clumsy
and its name is no compliment to the
fair sex. Another far fetched name Is
Solomon's seal You know the flower
Is a tiny grecnsh or creamy white af-
fair and is very unattractive In ap-
pearance, something like wintergreen
blossoms. Wei, It gets its name from
its root, which bears a round scar left
by the broken Off Ola stalk which Is
so unlike the impression Of a seal that
It makes one wonder how any one
could possibly have seen the likeness.
The false Solomon's seal, by the way.
is disgracefully named It Is far pret-
tier than the real Solomons seal and
should have a pretty name OF its own.
"Now, the name doRtooth 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 il
is nothing nc all Ike a violet The
wild geranium Is fragile flower, Law
ender IN color, something on the hepat-
ica tyne. only considerably larger. 50