Hi All,

At the risk of going too far in the direction of  chatter, Harry's post
brought up one of my personal pet peeves regarding missed bird-naming
opportunities. So I hereby submit "Black-bellied Plover". What is wrong with
that? - you may reasonably ask. Well there are lots of  conspicuously
black-bellied plovers out there, including all of the closely related
golden-plovers. Unfortunately the U.K. name for this beast also fails to
distinguish the bird from many other plovers. Grey Plover? Lots of other
plovers could answer to that color scheme.

So, what is my favored contender for naming this dashing mid-sized shorebird
with its delightfully haunting voice? I submit *Silver Plover*.

I cannot claim authorship for this wonderful offering. I first heard it from
Peter Connors, the gentleman largely responsible for the split of American
and Pacific Golden-Plovers, during an AOU annual meeting paper presentation.
It seems a very sensible solution indeed, we have three plovers of gold and
one of silver. Oh well, back to atlasing.

Good Atlasing,

Walter Ellison

23460 Clarissa Road
Chestertown, MD 21620
phone: 410-778-9568
e-mail: 

"A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B.
White (in "Stuart Little")

"Are there *ever* enough birds?" - Connie Hagar as quoted by Edwin Way Teale
in "Wandering through Winter"