Chief among the birds which derive their names from the countries to which they originally belonged are the =Guinea-fowl=, brought from Guinea, West Africa; the =Brahma-fowl=, from the neighbourhood of the Brahmapootra River in India; the =Bantam=, from Bantam in Java; the =Barb=, from Barbary, and the =Turkey=, which, although an American bird, was long believed to have been imported from European Turkey. Another native of North America received its name of the =Baltimore-bird= from the fact that its colours corresponded with those which occurred in the arms of Lord Baltimore, the Governor of Maryland, in which State it principally abounds. The =Canary= was first brought from the Canary Islands in 1500. The =Petrel=, a sea-bird usually associated with storms, expresses the Anglicized form of the Italian _petrillo_, a diminutive of Peter, in allusion to St. Peter walking on the sea, and the frequent appearance of this bird standing as it were on the surface of the water.
Strictly speaking, the members of the various Religious Orders, in this country at least, are not =Monks=, but Friars. Only those who live completely isolated from the rest of mankind, as did St. Anthony, are entitled to the former designation, which, in common with the term =Monastery=, comes from the Greek _monos_, alone. Consequently, a Religious House is incorrectly described as a Monastery unless each individual within its walls occupies a separate cell, both by night and by day, and never suffers himself to have the least communion with his neighbour. Failing compliance with such a rule, the term =Convent=, derived from the Latin _con_, together, and _venire_, to come, is more fittingly applicable. This designation, however, is now borne by an institution reserved for a community of =Nuns=, so called from the Italian _nonna_, a grandmother, because they originally comprised only very aged women; albeit it was formerly the custom to speak of Monasteries and Convents without discrimination. An =Abbey= always indicated a Religious House in connection with a Church, as, for example, Westminster Abbey, the abode of the community attached to the West Minster, presided over by an =Abbot=, so styled in accordance with the Syriac and Latin _abba_, a father, or, in the case of a female community, by an =Abbess=; whereas a =Priory= denoted a lesser or branch establishment placed at some distance from the Abbey, and controlled by a =Prior= (or =Prioress=), signifying one who had a prior claim over the rest to the office of Abbot (or Abbess) in the original community.