Thanks to those who had the patience and stamina to take
this on. Some had to be a bit hard - no point lollying up
Roadrunners to you lot.
For better or worse, my list is as follows:
* = Species on Australian list
A - AUK,
late Great
B - BLOOD’s
Bird of Paradise Paradisea bloodi (Collected by Ned Blood ca 1949
and named for him by Tom Iredale. Now treated as a hybrid. Lilian
Medland illustration from skin presumably in Aust Museum) One point for
BIRD of Paradise. I will send a fuller note about this interesting bird
C - COCK-OF-THE
ROCK, Andean or Guianan
D* - DUNLIN
- a wader on the ‘uncommon and vagrant species’ list for
Australia
E* - EGYPT
- popular name for Crescent Honeyeater, from call.
F - FORKTAIL
(this is White-crowned) – emblem of Oriental Bird Club
G - GRIFFON
Vulture
H* - HIRCINE MAGPIE
- colonists’ name for Pied Currawong (‘Hircine’ =
goatlike. Said to be ‘good eating, but hinder parts have a strong
goatish smell’.) Some of these names deserve to be revived!
I - IVORY-BILLED
Woodpecker
J* - ‘JABIRU’
- the original illustration (of the Australian bird) being so captioned
K - KEA
- the sheep-eating parrot of NZ (note sheep in background)
L* - ‘LARK’
M - ‘MAGPIE’
- I am not sure which of the magpie/jay group this is meant to be. In an
old (1880) book this illustration is captioned “Red [possibly for
‘Red-billed’] Magpie of China”
N* - NIGHT Parrot
O - Baltimore
ORIOLE - emblem of US baseball team, sometimes known as the
“O’s”
P - PITYRIASIS
gymnocephala (Bornean Bristlehead or Bald-headed Wood-shrike, relative of A
Magpie etc) - As you might know, ‘pityriasis’ is also
the name of a skin ailment
Q* - QUITCHUP –
‘popular name’ of YF Honeyeater, from call. (The
Quitchup Migration has a nice ring; could be the name of a Robert
Ludlum novel)
R - RHINOCEROS
Hornbill
S - SMEW
- a handsome little duck of the northern hemisphere
T - TITMOUSE,
Bearded (or Bearded Reedling Panurus biarmicus)
U* - UNDULATED Parrot
(Budgerigar) - given by Latham, from undulatus
‘wavy’. One point for scientific name
V - Egyptian
VULTURE
W* - WESTERN Bowerbird
X* - XANTHOTIS
macleayanus, Macleay’s Honeyeater
Y - YELLOW-BILLED
Cuckoo - a common (and non-parasitic) cuckoo of the eastern US
Z* - ZOSTEROPS
lateralis, Silvereye
Supplementaries -
D* - DOODLE-DOO
- popular name for Peaceful Dove, from call.
G* - New Holland GOATSUCKER
(Owlet-nightjar) - picture from Governor Phillip’s Voyage
1789
T - TABUAN
Parrot (Red or Maroon Shining Parrot P tabuensis ) - on
early stamp of Tonga (‘Tonga-tabu’). Name Tabuan Parrot
wrongly applied to King Parrot in White’s Journal
1790. A bit tough perhaps, but only one point for tabuensis
V - Red-eyed
VIREO - described by Roger Tory Peterson as the most abundant bird
in eastern US woodlands in warmer months. From Audubon engraving
Under the rules as outlined there was a maximum of 60
points.
Mark deserves an award for the most detailed responses,
pinpointing the species and even the source. (In Sabah recently, Maxwell
Smart-like, Mark came THAT close to ticking the Bornean
Bristlehead!) I appreciated the witty, erudite and mock-erudite
suggestions of Denis and Shaun. Pity there’s only me to appreciate
them, but I won’t prolong the exercise here by reproducing them. I
applied the scoring system previously indicated. The scores were
amazingly high. I’d assumed there’d be total blanks for some
of the above. Steve Holliday got an astonishing 58 points losing a point
each only on the tricky ‘B’ and the Tabuan Parrot. He might
have got the lot but for what is known in the quiz business as the ‘John
Lennard Rule’ (see Rules, earlier message). Mark, and
Leo (& team) got 51 with Harv and Lucy/Damien very close behind. Then
Shaun, Noel, Paul and Kevin W close behind that. All – including the
self-effacing Denis - were way ahead of Priscilla’s 33.3%.
Philip got some of the tricky ones in his incomplete entry.
The rat-cunning prize goes to Harvey for ‘Totogi
G’tori’ which he noticed inscribed on the parrot stamp. From
my references I gather that Tongan for that well-known bird is either
‘Kaka’ or ‘Koki’, so ‘Totogi G’tori’
is probably something like ‘Postage & revenue’, but one point
for the try.
With aids like the JD Macdonald book the Aussie colloquials
were pretty much easy meat, goat-flavoured Hircine Magpies apart.
I’d expected the most difficult to be the below, but the best
point-scorers on those were as follows. Odd that Canberra
birdwatchers can spot a vireo. What an international lot we are.
Bargain air fares, I suppose.
|
|
Steve
|
Mark
|
Harv
|
Paul
|
Lucy/Dam
|
Shaun
|
Leo
|
|
Blood’s
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
|
Hircine
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Oriole
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
|
Pityr
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
|
Yellow-b
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
|
Tabuan
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
|
Vireo
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
