Name Confusion
The name mor-hen has been recorded in English since the 13th century, and the word moor here is an old sense meaning marsh – the species is not usually found in moorland. An older alternative name, Common Waterhen, is a more descriptive because of the bird's habitat.
A "Watercock" is not a male "Waterhen", but the rail species Gallicrex cinerea, not closely related to the Common Moorhen. "Water Rail" usually refers to Rallus aquaticus, again not closely related.
The scientific name Gallinula chloropus comes from the Latin Gallinula (a small hen or chicken) and the Greek chloropus (khloros χλωρός green or yellow, pous πούς foot).
Read more about this topic: Common Moorhen
Famous quotes containing the word confusion:
“The small force that it takes to launch a boat into the stream should not be confused with the force of the stream that carries it along: but this confusion appears in nearly all biographies.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Of late the new “life philosophy” has shown a tendency to relapse into a bewildering confusion of logical and poetical means of expression.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)