[MDOsprey] Mourning Warblers (still ...)
Phil Davis (pdavis@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 21 May 1999 22:59:44 -0400
My sister-in-law saw a (the same?) male Mourning Warbler at the water
feature in her yard yesterday (Thursday, 5/20/1999) in Wheaton, Montgomery
County, MD. It was also seen on Monday (5/17).
Barbara needs this for a lifer and staked in out this afternoon .. but
without success.
Phil
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Phil Davis
home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland USA
work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland USA
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mon/Short-billed%20Gull%20Nomenclature%20[was:%20Fwd:">pwsmith@TECHLINE.COM>
>Subject: [BIRDWG01] Misuse of American-language gull nomenclature
>To: BIRDWG01@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>
>Dear Frontiersmen and especially Larophiles,
>
> I'd like to point out to those among you who, unlike me,
>weren't around when it happened [well, almost ;-)], that the
>traditional American-language name for Larus (canus)
>brachyrhynchus is 'Short-billed' Gull. It has been so named
>in every AOU check-list ever published, from the first in
>1886, to the seventh in 1998 (p.188). 'Mew' Gull in
>American ornithology has always referred to nominate Larus
>(canus) canus, ever since it was first attributed to North
>America prior to the first AOU check-list, and still (AOU
>7th ed., also p.188).
>
> The history of this latter name in American usage is
>interesting. An imm. gull was collected in Laborador in
>1860 that apparently was not typical of any known American
>species. It was sent to Howard Saunders at the British
>Museum, who declared it (incorrectly it turns out, cf.
>Dwight 1925) to be L. (canus) canus. While I have not seen
>Saunders' letter (which may still be in the Smithsonian), he
>wrote elsewhere that he held an aversion to the English name
>'Common' Gull. It would not surprise me that it was he who
>suggested that the Americans adopt the older English name
>'Mew' for it, even though he apparently was unsuccessful at
>convincing his compatriots to do so.
>
> As interest in gulls and gull taxonomy has mushroomed in
>recent years, this history seems to have been lost to many
>younger people who apparently are unaware of it. They are
>mistakenly referring to brachyrhynchus as 'Mew' Gull, and
>canus as 'Common' Gull. This practice is blasphemous to
>old f**ts like me. Please call brachyrhynchus
>'Short-billed' Gull. Fight over 'Mew' / 'Common' for
>nominate canus if you will, but please don't confuse over a
>century of American ornithological literature.
>
>Harrumph,
>------------------------------------------------------------
>---
>P W (Bill) Smith
>Grays Harbor, Washington USA
>pwsmith@techline.com
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Phil Davis
home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland USA
work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland USA
================================================