Subject: Re: Xantus, Xantus', or Xantus's and beyond
Date: Dec 12 11:15:04 1997
From: Michael Price - mprice at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweets,

Richard Rowlett writes:

>>From my limited library, I looked up these two in Ernest Choate ("The
>Dictionary of American Bird Names") which says nothing more than 'refers to
>the breeding range although not limited to Canada'. Then I thought; maybe the
>origin of "Canada" might be a descriptive noun meaning something other than
>what we all dismiss as the obvious.

One of C.H. Merriam's altitudinal/latitudinal' Life Zones' (remember the
little mountain subdivided intowas the Canadian Zone, corresponding to the
Boreal Forest across the northern part of the Canadian section of the continent.

And, Richard, if it's any consolation to not finding much about the meaning
of the word 'Canada', there's no one fully-accepted definition.

What I find equally interesting in all this is the observation that that
Canadians take their directions on taxonomy and nomenclature from the
American Ornithological Union though perhaps better than half of the
Continent's birds breed in Canada and use the US primarily as a transit
corridor only. Continentalism in action. Am I correct is saying that there
is no Canadian representation on that Union? A little bit like Holland
allowing Germany to determine its names, both colloquial and taxonomic, its
national checklist and the sequencing thereof. Odd situation.

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net