Facetious Monickers for American Birds

Abstract

SLY OR SATIRICAL INTENT is at the bottom of many names of American birds. As an example, we may mention neighbor duck, used for the little-relished shoveler in Louisiana and Texas. John J. Lynch says that this term 'refers to the somewhat uncharitable practice of the hunter distributing his shovelers among the neighbors who clamor for a taste of wild duck. It is reliably reported that a single application of this treatment will discourage the most persistent applicant.' Some rather artificial names proposed for the crow in the course of a campaign to popularize it as a food item were black partridge (Wis.), Ethiopian partridge (S. Dak.), and Italian woodcock (Ill.). Though meant to be enticing, these names were not enough, for the effort failed. Apparently the only way Americans will 'eat crow' is politically. Joking at the expense of racial groups has been common in America, and the examples cited here must be taken for what they are-samples of folk speech, not inventions of the author. It is hoped that every reader will have a sufficient share of the general sense of humor to enjoy, and not to take offense at, such bits of Usonian and Canadian lingo. Several names applied to game birds, as if they were representatives of races, are nicknames with no more than secondary humorous significance. They include bohunk (Wis.), Hun (general), and hunky (N.Y., Ohio, Mich., N. Dak., Saskatchewan) for the gray or Hungarian partridge; and Chinaman (Mont., Wash., Oreg., Calif.), chink (Ohio, Wis., Minn., Iowa, Mont., Oreg.), and Jap (Oreg.) for the common pheasant, individuals for the stocking of which were imported from China and Japan. The cackling goose, a small variety of the Canada goose, known as Mexican goose in California, is also dubbed greaser; this name has been recorded also for the ruddy duck (Md.), whether with the same significance is unknown. Indian or Injun, perhaps referring to the crest as a scalp lock, is a designation of the hooded merganser (N.Y.) and redbreasted merganser (Texas). Old Injun for the mate of the old squaw, a garrulous duck, has been reported from Massachusetts and Connecticut. Two such names refer to cries differing from those of a common relative as if the bird had a foreign accent: Dutch crow (fish crow, Pa.) and Dutch whippoorwill (chuck-will's-widow, S.C., Ala., Ky., Tenn.). Most of the monickers