The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1907-11-29
TITLES OUT or TONE
Incongruous Names an Observer
In a Museum Noted.
BIRDS OF ANOTHER COLOR.

Great Blue Heron Us 6ray--FloWefs
With Fantastic Designations.
"The purple finch" read the man
as he stood before glass case Of
birds IN a science museum. lie squlnt
ed at the bird and then remarked
scornfulIy. "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 WIS not blue
at all. but a decided gray. The neigh
Dor OF the blue heron was the "green
heron" a bird almost brown, with the
tlnlest flecks OF green on t. Only by
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
whose names the visitor read with dis
approval One was the snowflake"
small bird Of decided brownish
hue. Another was the purple grac-
kle," a brown bird with only the mcr-
est suggestion Of purple. And lastly
there was the "redstart." which was
not red at all. but an undenlable
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 bin how wrong.
ly ana absurdly birds were named
The curator laughed "My dear Eel
low" he protested, you have hap
naned On about the only birds IN the
.auseum that are incorrectly named.
AS a ,aatter 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
be better named than the scarlet tana-
ger the buebird, the catbird, the yel-
low bird, the woodpecker, the phoebe,
the red winged blackhird, the bobo-
link, etc.7 II 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 comnlnD wsite
petalled daisy with the yellow cent~E
and not the yellow daisy with the
brown center. as Is generally supposed
Now, ! calmot 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. 1t IS crying shame that
a certain little sweet pale lavender
flower which grows profusely should
bear the hldeous 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 thatY IL is pouchy and clumsy
and Its name Is no compliment to the
fair sex. Another far fetched name Is
Solomons seal. You know the flower
IS n tiny grecnish or creamy white az
fair aud is very uuattractiye in ap-
pearance. something like wintergroen
blossoms. Wei. II gets its name from
It's root which bears round scar left
by the broken OF old 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 II is far pret.
tier than the real Solomons seal and
should have a pretty name Of It's own.
Nov, 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 a violet The
wild geranium Is a fragile flower, Law
ender IN color something on the hepat-
Tea type, only considerably larger, so
you can see how much likeness it has
70 the sturdy garden geranlum.
You've seen that crimson flower
which at a distance looks like wild
rose and whose leaves are much Ike
grape leaves and whose stems are very
sticky7 Well. It's name is purple flow
ering raspberry, while It's color Is an
unmistakable crimson
'The blue vervain Is a tall weed, with
tiny, homely flowers, which grows in
waste places beside the ropd. and il
Is purple, not blue. The iron weed
has a queer Latin name which means
Mr.. Vernon, belonging 10 New York.
and IS named after an early English
botanlst OF New York state.
How do you suppose those pink,
fragrant blossops along the roads
which are near cousins TO the garden
phlox got the name % bouncing Bets?
Il seems incongruous and nippant for
this delieately tinted flower. On the
other hand, who do you suppose gave
the name cowsllps 10 the small flowers
OF the meadowi II Is certainly on ap.
proprlate one. but / wonder who con-
ceiyed the pretty name."-New York
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