What's in a Name? The Red-bellied Woodpecker does not have a red belly and some call goldfinches wild canaries and house finches linnets. The European Buzzard is similar to the North American Red-tailed Hawk. Blue birds are not necessarily bluebirds and all black birds are not necessarily blackbirds.  All birds have a scientific name (actually two names) derived primarily from the Latin or Greek. Anas platyrhynchos is the scientific name for the Mallard . Anas, the "genus" is Latin for duck, and indicates that the Mallard is related to other ducks such as the Pintail, Gadwall, and Black Duck. The species name, platyrhynchos, is Greek for flat bill, referring to the typical ducklike bill. (The species name for the Pintail is acuta, referring to the "acute" or pointed tail.) So the genus Anas, being the same for both species, tells us these ducks are related but distinct species with distinct species names. Note that the genus and species are always in italics and that species is both singular and plural. The American Ornithologist's Union has created a standardized checklist of the common English names of American birds, so we can use them. But scientists continue to use scientific names in order to avoid any confusion, to better show avian relationships, and to communicate with colleagues across the world whose common names are in their native languages.