Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 11:21:22 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Paul O'Brien Subject: Re: Wigeon -v- Widgeon Redux MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Dave, Very astute observation. I checked two older European Field Guides and the= y=20 both spelled the duck Wigeon, not Widgeon. The books were Birds of Europe=20 by Bruun and Singer, 1970, and Birds of Britain and Europe by Heinzel, Fitte= r=20 and Parslow, 1972. Even Peterson, Mountfort and Hollom's Field Guide to th= e=20 Birds of Britain and Europe, 1954, reprinted 1976, spell it Wigeon at the sa= me=20 time that Peterson's 1947 US guide refers to European Widgeon. So the Brit= s=20 always spelled it without the "d", and we adapted their spellings. Now=20 explain to me why we did that. I always liked Marsh Hawk, Sparrow Hawk, Du= ck Hawk=20 and Pigeon Hawk (note that Peterson didn't add a "d" to Pigeon, go figure).=20= =20 And "Hudsonian Curlew" has such a nice ring to it that simply isn't there in= =20 "Whimbrel". "Red-backed Sandpiper" tells me a lot more than does "Dunlin".= =20 And why didn't we start calling the Jaegers Skuas? But I will have to admi= t=20 that "Thick-billed Murre" is a more useful name than "Brunnich's Murre". O= h,=20 forget it. Paul O'Brien Rockville, Mont. Co., MD pobrien776@aol.com In a message dated 3/2/04 8:02:38 PM, mozurk@BELLATLANTIC.NET writes: > Phil, >=20 > Thanks for your research on this.=A0 We now know when the spelling >changed but the more interesting question is why.=A0 I don't have have >access to t= he > old references you seem to have available so before you take the good >advise being offered and do something useful with all your free time, >why don't you use some of it to refute my explanation. =20 > The early 80's was a time when many American bird names were changed to > bring them into agreement with the names used in England.=A0 For example, > our gallinule became Common Moorhen.=A0 My guess is that the British have > always used the Wigeon spelling and our name change was for consistency > with them.=A0 Do you have the old BOU lists (if there are such things) or > even old field guides from that part of the world? >=20 > Dave > David Mozurkewich > Seabrook, PG MD USA > mozurk @ bellAtlantic.net >=20 >=20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================