brian fleming wrote:
"Piping Crow-Shrike" was the vernacular name given by Gould to the
Black-backed Magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen, which he believed was
specifically distinct from the White-backed and Tasmanian forms. He
also called the Currawongs and Butcherbirds 'Crow-shrikes', though he
placed them in the genus Cracticus.
He does not mention the colonial common name Magpie - given
automatically by English-speakers to anything black and white, such as
a piebald horse or a football team..
Gould would have restricted the name Magpie to the European corvid,
which is very different in appearance, with comparatively little white
in its plumage, a long fan-tail, and chattering calls quite unlike
the Australian Magpie's song. I heard of an Australian visitor to
London Zoo who saw what he called a Magpie, c. 1960 - he was roundly
told off by a bystander for not using the 'Piping Crow-Shrike'
monicker on the cage. Incidentally 'tibicen' means flautist,
according to Cayley.
"Murray Magpie" is South Australian local name for what I in Victoria
call a Mudlark, Sydney-siders call a Peewee, and books call
Australian Magpie-Lark. I noticed the other day that 'Macca' on ABC
Local radio's "Australia All Over' doesn't know this!
South Australia and Western Australia are the only Australian
colonies which took native wildlife for their badges. Whether the
badge led to the derisory name of 'Crow-eaters' for South Australians
I don't know. When the Adelaide team could not keep its original
magpie colours on joining the AFL, the name 'Crows' followed
automatically.
Anthea Fleming
Dr Richard Nowotny wrote:
While in Adelaide last weekend (for the AFL preliminary final) I became
aware for the first time of the "Piping Shrike", South Australia's
official
government logo bird (or whatever its actual status is - it's on
official
government stationery, etc). I realized that I had seen the stylized
bird
with outstretched, curved wings many times previously without really
taking
much notice of it, but I had never before heard or read the term Piping
Shrike.
So what is a Piping Shrike and what are the origins of this, presumably
local, name? I started by asking some locals - only to discover that
there
is a fairly high degree of uncertainty in the minds of the lay populace.
They all knew of the Piping Shrike and its place in the state's
heraldry,
but in response to my questions the following comments were typical:
"Probably a magpie." No, it's not a magpie - maybe a 'Murray
Magpie'." "I'm
not sure." "I don't know where the name comes from."
[I note that one of the "Other Names" for Australian Magpie in the
Reader's
Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds is Piping Crow-shrike (and
that a
Murray Magpie is a Magpie-lark).]
So, here's the opportunity for local birding/official logo experts to
educate me, and any other ill-informed Birding-Aussers, about the
name, its
origins and which bird it refers to.
Richard NOWOTNY
Port Melbourne, Victoria
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
