But "Townsend's Warbler" does not mean "the warbler owned by Townsend"
any more than "Kelly's boss" indicates that you own your boss. It simply
indicates "the warbler of Townsend," i.e., the warbler named for
Townsend. As to the USGS, I don't think they were innovating, but rather
were simply following a common (if wrong-headed) cartographic practice
for place names.

David Wright
dwright at u.washington.edu

On Wed, 26 Apr 1995, Kelly Cassidy wrote:

>
> As long as we're on bird names and english, I *have* a pet peeve, too.
>
> Many years ago, the USGS decided that no one has possessive ownership
> of lakes, mountains or other geologic features, thus it is Mt St. Helens,
> not Mt St. Helen's, etc. (Or perhaps geologists don't type well enough
> to want to search for the apostrophe.) I personally feel the same
> about species. How can Townsend possess so many species? I
> vote for Townsends Warbler.
>
> Kelly Cassidy
>