Common Gull Name

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        My last word on this one. I got a short reply from a member of the
AOU Check-List Committee. The relevant part is (I left out only the
saluation and the signature):
       "...we use Mew, they use Common.  We don't like "Common Gull", so
we'll stick with Mew, just like we stick with Loon, Jaeger, White-winged
Scoter, etc., for Holarctic birds for which we don't like Brit. name."

        Doesn't answer what to call the Conowingo bird, but I still hold
out for Common Gull on practical and historical grounds and because it is
more precise. Unless, of course, it turns out to be a Ring-billed, which is
not out of the question...


Rick

"Everywhere I go I'm asked if the university stifles writers. My opinion is
that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a bestseller that could
have been prevented by a good teacher."  Flannery O'Connor

Rick Blom
rblom@blazie.com
Bel Air, Maryland

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