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Hello
Bill,
It is
not a silly situation. It is history and that there is simply a limit to
how many different words we wish to have and a reluctance to invent entirely new
names as different groups of fauna are discovered. These issues arise when
entirely separate (not closely related) groups, that happen to look similar to
members of other groups that were well known and named, earlier, by Europeans,
and so a later discovered group or species, were often given the same name.
Curiously this happened a lot in Australia. Like our marsupial mole, marsupial
mice, Tasmanian Tiger (Wolf), Spiny Anteater, Magpies, Finches, Robins,
Wagtails, Button-quails, etc, etc. Many rural people even call a wombat a
badger. Although the situation with giving Australian mammals their own
names has improved a lot over recent decades. There are many species of snipes
but only one (or two) species of Painted Snipes. As (I expect) the Scolopacidae
group of snipes were named first, they are called "true snipes" and because
there are many species of them it would be pointless and against the rules to
try to change all of their names. The one e.g. above of Button-quails
sort of addresses the issue by adding a word to indicate a total separation from
true Quails and I suppose "Painted" sort of does the same task as "Button". (But
I have no idea what "button" is meant to mean.)
The
issue of whether there should be a hyphen and where the capitals go in
Australian Painted-snipe is not yet settled (but that is probably the way to
go).
If
your issue is about putting Australian Painted-snipe & Latham's Snipe on the
same page on a field guide book because they look sort of similar and may live
in similar places, well that is a whole other issue.
Philip
As a newcomer to the study of wetland birds, I was surprised
to find the Latham’s Snipe page of Simpson and Day had no Painted Snipe. Further
investigation showed Latham’s are grouped under Scolopacidae while Painted are
in Rostratulidae. This is confusing. Is it not time for a petition or
competition to rectify this silly situation?
Bill Graham
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