The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1907-11-27
TITLES OUT OF TONE
lnoongruous Names an Observer
In a Museum Noted.
BIRDS OF ANOTHER COLOR.

The Purple Finch. Fer instanee ls NOT
Purple. but Wine colored, and the
Great Blue Heron Ia cray-Flowers
With Fantastic Designations.
"'rhe purple finch. read the man,
as he stood before glass ease Of
birds IN N science museum. lie squint.
cd at the bird and then remarked
scornfully. "But the bird IS not pur-
pie; it Is wine color" In the next case
he enc0unieted the label Great Blue
Heron" at the feet Of an extremely
long legged creature who was not blue
at an. but a decided gray. The neigh
Dor OF the blue heron was the green
heron bird almost brown. with the
tiniest hecks OF green on it. Only by
a big stretch Of the Imagination could
It bc called green. A familiar looking
water bird bore the name "black
duck" although it was brown with rs
wings tipped tawny shade. In
the next case there were three birds
whose names the visitor read with dis
approval One was the snowflake"
n small bird Of n decided browuish
hue. Another wns the purple grac-
kle,' brown bird with only the mer-
est suggestion OF purple And lastly
there was the "redstart." which was
not red at All. but an undeniahle
orange and black. When he read lhe
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 10
find the curator 10 tell him how wrong
ly and absurdly birds were named.
The curator laughed. MY dear fcl
low" he protested. you have hap
peued on about the only birds In the
museum that are incorrectly named
AS a matter Of fact. the birds found ia
this part Of the country are very well
named indeed. and you have picked
out only the exceptions. What could
he better named than the scarlet tana-
ger. the blueblrd, the catbird. the vel
low bird. the woodpecker. the phoebe.
the red winged blackbird. the bobo-
link, etc? II you'l examine the Wild
flowers youll lind much more incon-
gruous names. For Instance. there's
the oxeye dalsy-and by the way. the
oxeYe daiSy Is the coQmnp v.site
petalled daisy wifi the yellow cenfCf.
and not the yellow daisy with the
brown center. as Is generally supposed
Now, ! cannot conceive hCw that little
flower appears like the eye of an OK.
The black eyed Susan. commonly
known as the yellow daisy, Is better
l.rtt a. 80. Ia
fantastic. II Is a crying shame that
certain little sweet pale lavender
flower which grows profusely should
bear the hideous name of one Powered
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 that2 II is pouchy and clumsy,
and It's name is no compliment TO the
fair sex. Another far fetched name is
solomons seal You know the flower
is a tiny greenish or creamy white az
fair and Is very unattractiye IN ap-
pearance. something Ike wintorgreen
blossoms. Well. II gets its name from
its root which bears a round scar left
by the broken OF old stalk which is
50 unlike the impression of a seal that
Il makes one wonder how any one
could possibly have seen the likeness.
The false Solomon's SEAL by the way.
Is dlsgracefully named. II is far pret
tier than the real Solomon's seal and
should have a pretty name Of its own
"Now, the name dogtooth violet Is
another bad one. In the first place the
flower does not at all resemble tooth
OF any sort. and in the second place Il
Is nothing at all like a violet. The
wild geranlum II a fragile flower. Law
ender IN color, something on the hepat.
lea type, only considerably larger. so
you can see how much likeness It has
to the sturdy garden geranlum.
You've seen that crimson flower
which az a distance looks like Wild
rose and whose leaves are much like
grape leaves and whose stems are very
sticky? Wen, Its name Is purple flow
ering raspberry while its color Is an
unmistakabie crimson.
r. 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
'Nr Vernon. belonging TO New York
ana IS named after an early English
botanist Of New York state,
"IIow do you suppose those pink,
fragrant blossoms along the roads
which are near cousins ~ the garden
phl0x got the name OF bouncing Bets?
II seems inconeruous and hippant for
this delicately tinted flower on the
other hand. who DO you suppose gave
the name covslips TO the small flowers
OF the meadow II is certainly an ap.
proprlate one. but I wonder who con.
eeiyed the pretty name."-New York
/ Tribune.