[birdky] Bird Names Trivial Pursuit

Last week, Mark Monroe, Jon Dunn and I were tossing around the potential
derivations for the specific epithet of the Painted Bunting's scientific
name, Passerina ciris.  We speculated on several things having to do with
bright colors, but I was surprised to find the following explanation of the
word's derivation in The Dictionary of American Birds Names today . . .

ciris apparently comes from Greek mythology. . . for the "name of the bird
into which Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, king of Megara, was transformed.
Minos, the king of Crete, had beseiged Megara for six months to no avail.
This was because the city was unconquerable as long as a purple lock of hair
remained intact upon the head of Nisus.  Scylla, who had plenty of time on
her hands, whiled it away by looking over the enemy encampment from one of
her father's battlements. Her interest gradually became concentrated on one
individual, King Minos, and then quite rapidly evolved into an obsessive
fixation.  What would please Minos more than conquering the city? And most
surely he would be most pleased with anyone who would make this possible. So
the lovelorn damsel clipped the purple lock from her father's sleeping head
and in the dead of night made her way to Minos' tent and demanded an
audience. Was Minos gratified? Enough to conquer the city, yes, but to
reward Scylla? No. He was overcome with moral revulsion, spurned the maiden
and took off in his fleet in high dudgeon for Crete. Scylla, being a girl of
spirit and now having no place to go, followed the fleet into the sea and
grabbed hold of a rudder. Her father, who had now been changed into a sea
eagle, spied her and beset her with bill and claw.  She lost her hold and
was just about to disappear beneath the waves when the gods who had all the
time been watching the drama got into the act. They changed Scylla into a
ciris, a bird which has not been identified, although it is still pursued
upon sight by the sea eagle. The reason Linnaeus decided to name the painted
bunting after the heroine is no doubt because of it's purple head, but, if
so, he seems to have been confused about who had the purple lock. As for the
gods getting into the act, it shows their understanding of the strength of
passionate love."

A peculiarly eccentric story for a truly eccentric bird!

bpb, Louisville
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