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What the heck do we call the Koel?

To: "'Carl Clifford'" <>, "'Alan McBride'" <>
Subject: What the heck do we call the Koel?
From: "Jeff Davies" <>
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:33:05 +1100
G'day Carl,

That was a convenient segue into the exploits of Dampier, not sure of the
relevance to the discussion though. Are you saying Dampier was Linnaeus's
sole provider of specimens from the region. Or were you forgetting that the
Dutch conducted a spice trade with the region which may have enabled some
opportunistic collecting of birds from the Moluccas. Eastern Koel is found
from Australia through Melanesia to the Moluccas which is where ssp
orientalis is found and presumably was the first member of this species
group named which would be why the name orientalis has priority. No need to
chase all this up and do some DNA, it's already been done. Just trying to
create some clarity.

Cheers Jeff.





-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of Carl Clifford
Sent: Wednesday, 10 November 2010 4:44 PM
To: Alan McBride
Cc: ; Patrick Scully
Subject: What the heck do we call the Koel?

Alan,

I might be a bit thick...(pauses for sniggering), but where would the  
specimen that Linnaeus used for his study and naming, if it was  
published in 1766. The Dutch explorers were more interested in mapping  
the western coast, except for Tasman.

Dampier, though basically a pirate, did made copious notes on the  
peoples and natural history, but on his first voyage, he ended up  
being marooned on the Nicobar Islands and got back to England with  
basically the clothes he stood up in and his journals. On his second  
sojourn, he did hole up in Roebuck Bay, WA for a while and did collect  
many natural history specimens, but his ship came to grief after he  
left Australia, due to the normal rot and an incompetent ships  
carpenter and he and his ship ended up aground on Ascencion Is after  
taking water to a dangerous extent. He and his crew were marooned  
until picked up by a Dutch ship. He managed to salvage a lot of his  
charts and journals, but his specimen collection suffered somewhat.  
Dampier's second and third circumnavigations were pretty much for  
piracy, though he did do English literature a favour, by dropping off  
Alexander Selkirk for a holiday on the second and picking him up on  
the third.

All this makes me wonder if Linnaeus actually described a specimen  
that came from the East Indies or New Guinea. The specimen that  
Linaeus used, may still be in his collection which is held by the  
Linnean Society in London. It would be interesting to do a DNA profile  
on a feater from the specimen, if it still exists.

Cheers,

Carl Cliff

ord
On 10/11/2010, at 1:45 PM, Alan McBride wrote:

To quote C & B 2008....

Eastern Koel    Eudynamys orientalis

C & B follows Mason (1997).

Under this division, the oldest available name for the species  
occurring in Australia is orientalis Linnaeus, 1766, which has  
priority over E. cyanocephalus Latham, 1801. This necessitates the  
introduction of a new English name for E. orientalis. Mason (1997)  
used the name Pacific Koel but as the species occurs throughout  
eastern Indonesia, the Moluccas, New Guinea, northern Melanesia and  
Australia, Eastern Koel is a more appropriate name.

Consequently the three species in the E. scolopaceus complex as  
recognised here are:

E. orientalis (Eastern Koel);
E. scolopaceus (Asian Koel; southern Asia through to western Lesser  
Sundas and the Philippines) and
E. melanorhynchus (Black-billed Koel; Sulawesi, Sula)

Hope this helps.

Alan


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On 10/11/2010, at 13:23 , Patrick Scully wrote:

Hi All,
After reading of the the reported Koel at Victoria Bridge, Richmond, I  
poped
down there yesterday and heard a Koel calling (I recognised the call  
after
hearing and seeing  it in Newcastle) for around ten minutes. I didn't  
have
the time to look further but it was on the East side of the river  
(opposite
side to the bike track) just upstream of the bridge. later like the  
other
person,  I pondered on the correct name, as it was reported as both the
Eastern and the Austrlian Koel. My old Simpson and day calls it the  
Common
Koel as does my Morcombe, Pizzey and Knight 8th Ed calls it the  
Eastern Koel
and the most recent Simpson and Day (2010) calls it the Eastern (Common)
Koel. If it is now properly called the Australian Koel?, does this  
mean that
it does not migrate to PNG and Indonesia?
Happy birding,
Patrick Scully
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