At 14:21 10/08/98 +1000, you wrote:
>But wait, there's more!
>
>Having just returned from Central West Queensland (home of the
>Pisswhopper) I have watched the bunfight over common names with
>some amusement. At Barcaldine we found a bird list for a property
>near Aramac which had us wondering far into the night. Can anyone
>offer the REN for the following (locally) common names?
>
> hopping johnny
> coffee duck
> buln buln
> white headed water hen
> black magpie
>
>I've looked in 'Leach' (that dear little Australian Bird Book with
>the green leather cover) but have been unable to find them.
>
>
I've just referred to an excellent little book I picked up as a remainder
some years ago "The Illustrated Dictionary of Australian Birds by common name"
by J.D. MacDonald, and it has the following:
buln-buln - recorded by Gould given by Yarra natives to lyrebird; given by North
as a name for Barnard's parakeet, meaning not known;
[this illustrates the problem with common names, they can mean quite
different things
in different places, but within your area I see no problem with using them]
black magpie - popular name give to white-winged chough by early colonists;
it didn't mention the others.
and Glen, your Dragoon-bird is the buff-breasted pitta, oops, Noisy Pitta!
Cheers
Peter Woodall
Uni Qld
Dr Peter Woodall email =
Division of Vet Pathology & Anatomy
School of Veterinary Science & An. Prod. Phone = +61 7 3365 2300
The University of Queensland Fax = +61 7 3365 1355
Brisbane, Qld, Australia 4072 WWW = http://www.uq.edu.au/~anpwooda
"hamba phezulu" (= "go higher" in isiZulu)
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