Yes funny about that. We have in one instance the terms peahen and
peacock for the different sexes, or peafowl for the species. Maybe
because make and female peafowl look so different. We also have cob and
pen for male and female swans but they are very hard to tell apart. In
contrast native-hens for the species (a suggestion of the female as you
say), regardless of their sex. I suggest the likely male alternate
general name would not sound overly nice. Probably English has not
advanced enough yet to allow for the removal of the suggested female
form of the word hen. It would be confusing if we had different words
for males and females of all birds!
Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
Kambah ACT 2902
02 - 62314041
-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Compston
Sent: Friday, 16 October 2009 9:41 PM
To: Canberra Birds
Subject: norgrove park
Norgrove Park is a little gem to visit. This morning Bill and I saw
two Black-tailed Native-hens. (They can't all be hens!) and a Buff-
banded Rail. Also we saw European Goldfinches and European
Greenfinches. We have not seen Greenfinches for quite a while.
Other birds were Red Wattlebirds, Red-browed Firetails, Grey
Fantails, new Holland Honeyeaters and other more common birds
Elizabeth
************************************************************************
*******************************
|
