Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 08:41:37 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Lynette Fullerton Subject: Re: Wigeon -v- Widgeon In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii If you go to dictionary.com and type in the word "wigeon" you'll get this (from the American Heritage Dictionary): "wid?geon also wi?geon ( P ) Pronunciation Key (wjn) n. pl. widgeon, also wigeon or wid?geons also wi?geons Either of two wild, freshwater ducks (Anas americana of North America or A. penelope of Europe) having a grayish or brownish back and a white belly and wing coverts. The European widgeon has a reddish-brown head and creamy crown, and the American widgeon has a shiny white crown." Looking in "older" field guides (by which I mean before 1982, which was the date of the first field guide where I found it spelled without the d) you'll find it spelled widgeon. Does anyone know when the 'd' was dropped? Please understand that I am as nitpicky as the next person when it comes to spelling, but I don't think that "widgeon" can really be counted as a spelling error...Can it? Curious in Crownsville, Lynette Fullerton l_fullerton_1999atyahoodotcom > > Now if only I could come up with a similarly > diplomatic prompt for > all those folk writing about "eurasion widgeons" > > Do you think they also see "rock pidgeons"? > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you?re looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================