A possible reason that this is the only Australian bird to be allowed the
doubtfully appropriate name of 'Warbler' is that the contending
alternatives were 'Speckled Jack' and 'Chthonicola'. There are quite a few
of these around locally where there is a bit of shrubby growth in the
woodlands, although I doubt we will still have them if the briars, brambles
and hawthorn are ever finally eliminated.
The scientific name is one of those unattractive 'cola' constructions (the
Latin 'cola', usually given as 'dweller', being attached in this case to the
Greek 'khthonos' meaning 'ground'). You would think a name like
'ground-dweller' would not be applied to a bird that spends a lot of time up
in trees and shrubs but would be kept for things like quail, but, oh no, the
Romans called those 'coturnix' (as in 'oh look, there go a couple of
coturnices') and when the new namers came across the
similarly-ground-dwelling button-quail they called that a 'Turnix' because
it was smaller than a Coturnix, the Little Button-quail unfortunately not
qualifying for separate generic status where it might have been known as a
'Nix'.
Geoffrey Dabb
email :
ph/fax : 02 6295 3449
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