Hi all,
I'd like to add my two pennyworth to this discussion on Schodde's naming
of the grasswren in the Selwyn Ranges SE of Mt Isa.
I have to admit that for me the name Kalkadoon has a mystical air about it.
A bit like Lorna Doone, it conjures up mental images of a past era, steeped
in the intrigue of long forgotten folklore.
Yeah, Bob, Horton's and Selwyn are probably more technically correct but to
me they are also scientifically dry and uninteresting.
And while I'm raving on, and just to switch to the scientific names -
surely there are already enough birdo's names enshrined in
pseudo-scientific folly ending in "ii", or place names with "ae's" and
"ensis's" hanging on their tails. To follow Bob's line of thought the poor
old grasswren would have finished up as "hortonii" or "selwynensis". Let's
put some colour, description, and romance back into the naming of our birds
and without any disrespect, let's forget about egocentric (and mostly dead)
birdos having their moments of recognition and glory. Even Schodde fell for
this again calling the Kalkadoon Grasswren Amytornis "ballarae" after some
nearby locality. Why not "leucoventris" which at least describes it's pale
bum? ( That's pretty romantic eh?) What do the "Stodgies" think about this?
On an entirely different but related issue I'd like to publicly thank Bob
Forsyth for the excellent and detailed mudmaps he sent me to help find the
pesky bird later this year.
Cheers all and gesundheit.
Tony.
ADELAIDE BIRDING, South Australia by 4WD
Tony Russell,
phone : 08 8337 5959 , o/s 61 8 8337 5959
e-mail:
There's nothing quite like the feeling of seeing a new bird is there?
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