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Hello Bill,
Of course a word means anything that the people using it, agree
that it means.
Clearly "avicide" does mean killing of a bird, or as has been
shown, "avicide" also means a substance such as a poison, to do that
(notwithstanding that such substances are not legally available here - the word
use is still valid). However it means nothing more than that and I don't
see how the word could ever mean more than that or even narrow down to one of
those meanings. The avi (in avicide) indicating bird is for the entity that
dies, not the entity doing the killing, so it in no way indicates that a bird
was the killer. It seems to me that you are making a link there.
To try to do so would only create confusion, as it has. Avicide
also does not indicate the eating of the bird or that the killing was
specifically done by its parent or any other particular entity - it could be
another bird or some other animal or any event like starvation, old age,
disease, crashing into a building, whatever. Given that it is so vague, its use
is very unhelpful. We already have good words like "predation" for "the killing
of a bird by another bird (or indeed any animal)". But your original question on
the Musk Duck was about parental (or especially paternal) cannibalistic
infanticide among birds. That is a particular and unusual behaviour and so
should not go under the same bland word as used for something
else. The lions I referred to do another form of infanticide that is
specifically NOT parental (nor is it usually
cannibalistic).
Beyond all that confusion, the problem I have with
"avicide" is I think it carries a tinge of morality to it, by virtue of that
people know of genocide, etc. So I think it is a bad word choice for
simple predation. So we should either use specific defined words or
just plain English does a better job to use the normal words that in
combination give clarity.
If you look at CBN13(2):32, I wrote an article: "Observations of
aviphagy by Pied Currawongs" (1988). At least "aviphagy" is clear and specifies
the eating of a bird and the clarifier says by who.
Philip
My thinking about avicide began
while waiting for a second breeding attempt by Aust. Spotted Crakes at Forde.
Some weeks had gone by following observed copulation with no chicks emerging
from the reeds. The crakes' nests are found in reeds where most of the of
breeding is hidden. If a second nest was made, two lots of rain could have
washed it away or predators may have been. All speculation. I coined the word
not knowing it already existed as a nonce. The context I had in mind was of a
larger bird killing or eating young crakes. I agree with John Harris that plain
English and a minimum of syllables is the way to go Aviation, aviator, aviatrix,
genocide, pesticide and lunar module were coined and have come into common
usage. I still like the sound and look of avicide even though plain English does
a better job. It seems to me to mean , the killing of a bird, so It could mean
the killing of o bird by another bird. Could it be brought back into use?
Bill Graham
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