Tweets and OBOLers,

I note on the BirdChat list that Van Remsen - a gentleman ON the AOU
names committee is soliciting people's ideas on what to name the three
"new species" of Scrub Jays. I thought some might appreciate it if I
forwarded his posting, as some of us feel kind of passionately about 'our'
"California" Jays... I personally don't think that splitting "species"
of this sort is the correct way to go, but then again, I'm not an expert
on the AOU Checklist Committee, either. I'm a 'lumpy' sort of person,
when it comes to taxonomy.

I also appended a reply from a Floridian (Florida: whence came the name
"Scrub" Jay in the first place).

Anyhow, in the spirit of the Daly machine: "Vote early and often" :-)

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, WA
anderjda at dfw.wa.gov


---------- Forwarded message ----------
12. English names of scrub jays

From: Remsen
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 1995 20:01:51 CDT

BIRDCHAT: My request for input on English names for Calidris ruficollis
(whether to change from Rufous-necked to Red-necked Stint) for AOU Check-list
has not exactly been met with overhwelming numerical response: only 17 "votes"
so far. Maybe no one cares?

Let's try a more diffucult one, and one that probably concerns more people.
We (AOU Checklist Comm.) have voted to accept proposal to split scrub jays
(based on a variety of new data) into three species: (1) the Florida
population, (2) the Santa Cruz Island (Channel Islands, CA) population, and
(3) the "rest."Now we have to decide on English names.

Here'sthe core of the problem. Do we keep "Scrub-Jay" as a group name, or go
with shorter names. For example, "Florida Jay" is an English name used
throughout ornithological literature, going as far back at least as Ridgway at
the turn of the century, and as recently as Gill's "Ornithology" textbook.
However, the name "Florida Scrub-Jay" is entrenched in recent literature on
bird behavior and population biology because of the important long-term studies
published by Woolfenden, Fitzpatrick, and others; in fact, an important book
uses that name in its title. Use of simpler names would result in "Florida
Jay, Scrub Jay, and Santa Cruz (Island) Jay." Use of group name would result
in "Florida Scrub-Jay" and "Santa Cruz (Island) Scrub-Jay" and requires the
unfortunate invention of a new name for "the rest," with the leading candidate
currently "Western Scrub-Jay."

An issue within the issue is the use of "Island" in the name for the species of
Santa Cruz Island. Many do not like "Island" because of the cumbersome name
thereby created, especially if the group name is used: "Santa Cruz Island Scrub
-Jay." Others insist that we retain "Island" because the California city of
Santa Cruz is more widely associated with that name than Santa Cruz Island
(and secondarily, a lagre number of places called "Santa Cruz" exist on the
planet). If the bird were called "Santa Cruz Jay," for instance, then the
scrub jay that occurs in the city of Santa Cruz is not the Santa Cruz Jay but
the Western Scrub-Jay or Scrub Jay. Additionally, retention of "Island"
would emphasize its insular distribution.

Incidentally, John Fitzpatrick pointed out to me that although many of us
who began birding in the 1950s or later would probably think that the name
"Scrub Jay" has a long history. Not so. It was invented in the 1950s;
previosuly the birds were called by their subspecies names, e.g. "California
Jay," "Woodhouse's Jay," etc.

So, here are your choices, from shortest to longest. You can use the letter
symbol to relay your preference:

A. Florida Jay, Scrub Jay, Santa Cruz Jay.
B. Florida Jay, Scrub Jay, Santa Cruz Island Jay
C. Florida Scrub-Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Santa Cruz Scrub-Jay
D. Florida Scrub-Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Santa Cruz Island Scrub-Jay

Please relay your choice directly to me (not Birdchat):
Van Remsen (najames at LSUVM.sncc.LSU.edu

P.S.: If anyone has better idea than the spectacularly dull "Western Scrub .."
let me know.

PSS: The hyphenation of "Scrub-Jay" and other group names is another issue
currently under discussion. For now, AOU-CLC orthography uses hyphens in
these cases, but that may change.

------------------------------

14. Florida Scrub Jay

From: Peter Rauch
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 1995 23:15:29 -0700

Van,
I don't care what AOU calls the "other" jays, but I care a lot about
the Florida Scrub Jay.

The Florida Scrub (biotic regions) is an extremely important symbolic
and real element of Florida's endangered environments. The Florida
Scrub Jay, it goes without explanation, carries that symbolism to its
most sensitive levels for many Floridians.

Floridian environmentalists, first, will fight to save the remaining
remnants of Florida Scrub. I think it would be a shame to take away one
of the key symbols of their lament, plight, and fight.

The Florida Scrub Jay, in name or kind, should not disappear before the
last Florida Scrub is erased from place and memory!

Cheers,
Peter

(By the way, if AOU _must_ call them "Jays", and not "Scrub-Jays" or
"Scrub Jays", then call the one from the Florida Scrub the
"Florida-Scrub Jay". I hope that won't be necessary.)