Gary,
The way I understand it, the second word is capitalised if there is an
actual relationship with that group, e.g. Bronze-Cuckoos are in fact
cuckoos, Paradise-Kingfishers are kingfishers, etc. On the other hand,
Fairy-wrens are not actually wrens, Quail-thrush are not thrush, neither
are Shrike-thrush (and nor are these quail or shrikes, either. Or for that
matter, fairies!).
Cuckoo-Shrike and Magpie-Lark are both erroneous - by these rules the
second word should not be capitalised.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Carol
At 3:22 PM -0500 23/3/04, Gary Davidson wrote:
>I have noticed that a number of Australian birds have hyphenated names.
>In some cases both parts are the names of bird groups or families, i.e.
>Shrike-thrush, Cuckoo-Shrike, Parrot-Finch, Magpie-Lark, Quail-thrush, and
>Emu-wren. In other cases, the first word is more of a descriptor. i.e.
>Bronze-Cuckoo, Owlet-nightjar, Paradise-Kingfisher, Fairy-wren, and
>Reed-Warbler.
>
>My question is, why are the second words sometimes capitalized and
>sometimes not? Why is it Shrike-thrush, but Cuckoo-Shrike? And why
>Fairy-wren, but Reed-Warbler?
>
>Gary Davidson
>Kingston, Tas
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