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More on Nomenclature

To: "Trevor Ford" <>
Subject: More on Nomenclature
From: "Philip A. Veerman" <>
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 17:38:15 +1100
Trevor and all,
 
It is not random. The point being taxonomic. I'll explain using your examples and the same applies to many others: Night-Heron is a Heron, Shrike-thrush is not a thrush, Brush-turkey is not a turkey, Cuckoo-Dove is a Dove, etc., etc.  The second word is given in capitals if there is an actual relationship to the group of that name. Of course it is confusing that the same rule doesn't apply to the first word (as in a Cuckoo-Dove is not related to a cuckoo but it is to doves and a Cuckoo-shrike is not related to either (just resembles them).
 
Clear as mud? 
 
Philip
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Trevor Ford <>
To: birding-aus <>
Date: Monday, 15 December 2003 15:13
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] More on Nomenclature

G'day,

Surprisingly (?) I've received not one reply to my query on Nomenclature and
Taxonomy, apart from being sent a couple of links to web sites that outline
up-to-date thinking by authorities outside Australia.  So I must presume
that nobody in these parts really knows or cares, and that perhaps the Birds
Australia position is one of embarrassment.

I have another query.  Again, please send any replies that are not to the
list to   This is not a personal address so
please don't send unrelated topics to it - thanks.

I seem to remember a thread some time ago about the acceptance of
hyphenisation and capitalisation within bird names.  Much as I dislike a
capital letter immediately following a  hyphen, I want to obey the rules.
Actually, I want to understand them!  I once thought that if a bird name was
being qualified by some sort of attribute, then both words were capitalised
(for example Night-Heron) but if the composite bird name was built from two
other bird names then the second name was not capitalised (for example
Shrike-thrush).  But then, looking through Christidis and Boles, I found
Brush-turkey, Cuckoo-Dove, etc., etc.  So are there any rules or is it all
completely random?  Also, I see in the text Reed Warbler but in the
checklist Reed-Warbler.

The Birds Australia 14/2/03 draft checklist, which I had hoped to follow,
contains other inconsistencies.  I presume that Norfolk Island Ground-dove
is just a mistake, as all the other similarly named doves are of the form
X-Dove.  But how about the Christidis and Boles Cuckoo-shrike that has
become Cuckoo-Shrike?  Is this another mistake or a new way of thinking?

Other oddities are Fairy-wren and Emu-wren.  Why are their names hyphenated
whilst all other composite wren names are not?

This may all sound like a bit of a whinge but I am just trying to present
the up-to-date and correct position in my publication on the birds of
Buckley's Hole.

Cheers - Trevor Ford.






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