Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 11:57:01 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Michael Bowen Subject: Wigeon -v- Widgeon Redux In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Before Norm rules us all out of order, let me add my five guineas' worth to the question of whether the British ever used "widgeon" to describe either the European or North American birds. I have some even older British field guides than Paul O'Brien, and they still support Dave Mozurkewitch's theory that the "d" was never included in the name in British usage. The oldest such book I possess is "British Birds and their Haunts", by Reverend C. A. Johns, published in 1918 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. (Apparently English vicars had as much or more time on their hands than contemporary Secretaries of state bird records committees!) Anyway, this tome describes "The Wigeon" (Anas Penelope) and "The American Wigeon" (Anas Americana). Not a "d" in sight. The Wigeon -- i.e., Eurasian Wigeon -- was at that time also commonly known as the "Whew-duck" or "Whewer," according to the indolent Rev. Johns. MDOsprey readers may also be interested to know that in the Welsh language, the Eurasian Wigeon is called "Chwiwell" and the American Wigeon as "Chwiwell America." Trying saying those three times quickly. Or maybe not. Mike Bowen Bethesda At 08:01 PM 3/2/2004 -0500, you wrote: >Phil, > >Thanks for your research on this. We now know when the spelling >changed but the more interesting question is why. I don't have have >access to the 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. > >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. For example, >our gallinule became Common Moorhen. My guess is that the British have >always used the Wigeon spelling and our name change was for consistency >with them. Do you have the old BOU lists (if there are such things) or >even old field guides from that part of the world? > >Dave >David Mozurkewich >Seabrook, PG MD USA >mozurk @ bellAtlantic.net > >======================================================================= >To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com >with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey >======================================================================= D. H. Michael Bowen (Mike) 8609 Ewing Drive Bethesda MD 20817-3845 Tel/Fax: (301) 530-5764 e-mail: dhmbowen@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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================