Subject: Old Bird Names
Date: Nov 04 20:44:41 1996
From: "CHRISTINE W. MAACK" - 73201.3124 at CompuServe.COM


I got intrigued with old bird names when reading Lewis and Clark's journals and
discovering they used some of the same names my father still uses, such as "bull
bat" for Nighthawk or "bee martin" for Kingbird. (My father's 84.)

Then, reading Travels of William Bartram, I discovered his fabulous bird list
full of total mysteries like Turdus minimus, "the least golden crown thrush." So
I ordered Obsolete English Names of North American Birds and Their Modern
Equivalents, from USFWS (Resource Publication 174). It didn't help much with
Bartram, but hey, hey, it has

titlark = pipit, water (Anthus spinoletta)

Sorry, no prairie owl. And my father grew up in Virginia.

I bet we tweetsters could sort out a lot of Bartram's list. If I get time to do
a lot of typing, I'll post it to the tweeters list. Or maybe Dan could scan it
and put it on the web site.

Chris Maack
Bird Treatment & Learning Center
Anchorage, AK
73201.3124 at compuserve.com