In flight Regent Parrots are very strikingly marked in black and gold,
as I well remember from Hattah National Park in northwest Victoria. But
in Western Australia I was surprised to find that they were much more
green than yellow. Whether the bird ever had a different common name in
WA I don't know, but Regent is certainly suitable for the eastern form.
Anthea Fleming
Russ Lamb wrote:
Patrick,
My posting was in response to the question "why are black and
gold birds called "Regent"". I think that if an Australian bird is
black and gold then giving it the common name of "Regent" was an obvious
though not prescriptive option for those responsible for naming birds in
the late 18th and early 19th centuries (a period when the issue of
regency was current and meaningful).
I have absolutely no idea how people naming individual species
actually decided what common name to give, or why. Only that that colour
combination had an association with the word regent and thus became a
(non-prescriptive) option.
It helps us understand why a naming decision may have been taken
for a black and gold species, but doesn't answer the question of what
factors determined the naming of the Regent Parrot (it may have had
nothing at all to do with colour).
Isn't there a book somewhere which gives possible reasons for the common
names of Aussie birds?
Russ Lamb, Maleny,SEQ
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