12/27 He used to be called cock-of-the-woods, but the name was twisted around until it became woodcock, and some people believe that he is the gamey little bird we so much delight to shoot and eat. But they belong to different orders, one being a climber and the other a wader. Lester speaks of a rabbit, not knowing that there is no such thing as a wild rabbit in our country, and calls it _Ortyx Virgiana_, when he should have called it _Lepus Virginianus_, the name he uses being the one by which our quail is known to ornithologists. A deer, which he calls a dog-wolf, is _Cervus Virginianus_. O, he's a naturalist as well as a sportsman," shouted Don, as he laid back upon the sofa and laughed until his sides ached. |