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Wow.
Yes it is difficult.
The benefit of the hyphen is that it connects the
words, thus Bronze-Cuckoo is an entity or group. It also
comes up as an issue with things like Red Collared Dove. When I saw that
written, I thought it was wrong and shouldn't it be Red-collared Dove (as in the
dove has a red collar) but I was wrong and it doesn't. It is a form of Collared
Dove that is red (pretty much all over) with I think a black collar. I reckon
deleting the hyphens is just a bit of laziness that we should guard
against.
Is "Fruit Dove" a piece of the
reproductive bit of a plant or is it a bird?
I can give another example of the
issue of capitalising names from the story of someone asking a ranger at (I
think) Wilson's Promontory "Are there any Ground Parrots around here?" The
answerer referring to the Crimson Rosellas crawling over the people was a
perplexed yes. Although the question was about Ground Parrots NOT ground
parrots. (Though obviously Crimson Rosellas are mainly tree
parrots).
My intention for the "Little Bronze-Cuckoo"
was to suggest that the hyphen gives the name a structure without being three
unconnected words. Without it (as I wrote it), it is ambiguous as to whether the
"little" refers to the amount of bronze or to the size of the Bronze-Cuckoo.
(Assuming it is smaller than the others).
Philip
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