Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-11-19
TITLES OUT OF TONE
lncongruous Names an Observer
In a Museum Noted.
BIRDS OF ANOTHER COLOR.

The Purple Finch, For Instance, ls Not
N Purple, but Mine coIored, and the
Great Blue Heron Is Gray-FloWers
With Fantastic Designations.
1.-THE purple finch. read the man,
as he stood before a 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
he encountered the label Great Blue
Heron" at the feet of an extremely
long legged creature who was not blue
at all. but decided gray. The neigh
Dor of the blue heron was the green
heron bird almost brown. with the
tiniest fecks of green on it. Only by
a big stretch of the Imagination could
1t be called green. A familiar looking
water bird bore the name tsblack
duck" although it was brown with its
wings tipped a tawny shade. In
the next case there were three birds
whose names the visitor read with dis
approval. One was the snowflake"
small bird Of a decided brownish
hue. Another was the purple grac-
kle,"5 brown bird with only the mer-
est suggestion Of purple. And lastly
there was the t'redstart,n' which was
not red at all. but an undefliable
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 tel, him how wrong
" and absurdly birds were named.
The curator laughed my dear fell
low" he protested, styou have hap
pened on about the only birds in the
museum that are incorrectly named.
Asa 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 eatbird, the vel
lows bird, the woodpecker, the phoebe
the red winged blackbird, the .bobo-
link. etc., IL you'll examine the wild
flowers you'll find much more incon-,
gruous names. For instance, there's
the oxeye daisy -and. by the way. the
oxeye daisy is the common white
petalled daisy with the yellow center.
and not the yellow daisy with the
brown center. as is generally supposed.
Now. 4 cannot conceive how that little
flower appears like the eye Of an OK.
The black eyed Susan. commonly
known as the yellow daisy. is better
named. but it is certainly extremely
fantastic. 1t lis crying shame that
a certain little sweet pale lavender
flower which grows profusely should
bear the hideous name of one lowered
cancer root because its root vaguely
resembles cancer, But the name
sticks.
"Then there is the iady's slipper. Can
You imagine lady's slipper fashioned
like that? 1t 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 tiny greenish or creamy white af-:
fair and is very unattractive in APP
pearance. something like wi1tergreen
blossoms. Well, it gets its name from
its root, which bears a round scar left
by the broken Off old stalk which is
SO unlike the impression of IA seal that
1t makes one wonder how amy one
could possibly have seen the likeness.
The false Solomon's seal, by the way,
ii disgracefully named 1t is far pref
tier than the real Soiomon'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 it
is nothing at all like violet. The
wild geranium Is fragile flower, Law
ender In color, something On the hepat-
lea type. only considerabl larger, so
You can see how much likeness 1t has
to the sturdy garden geranium. ss
You've seen that crimson flower
which at distance looks like wild
rose and whose leaves are much like
grape leaves and whose stems are very
| sticky Well, its name Is purple fiow-
lering raspberry. while its color is an
unmistakable crimson.
.The blue veryain is a tall weed. with
1 tiny, homely flowers. which grows in
waste places beside the road. and It
is purple. not blue. 81 The iron weed
1 has a queer Latin name which means
Mr.. Vernon, belonging to New York,
and is named after an early English
botanist OF New York state. S53
/ How do you suppose those pink,
i fragrant blossoms along the roads
which are near cousins to the garden
3phlox got the name of bouncing Bets?
4 It seems homogeneous and fippant for
this delicately: tinted flower. On the
Iother hand. who do you suppose gave
4 the name cowslips to the small flowers
of the meadow? Tt is certainly an ap-
i propriate one, but i wonder who con-
#eeiyed the pretty name..s-N New York
4 Tribune. 35s53 Vii
Russian BetrothaI Feast
A Russian wooing eliminates in the
4 betrothal feast, at which the bride
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