Michael Price wrote -

> By the 1800's in England and America, the French 'au' sound
> ('o') had become a more literal 'aw' sound', the 'x' became pronounced and
> 'Vo' had become 'Vox', to rhyme with 'rocks'. The swift was named after an
> American, not a Frenchman, and hence is pronounced as the latter.

>From "A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names" (Jobling 1991) -

vauxi - After William Sansom Vaux (1811-1882) US archaeologist and
mineralogist.

- Jack




Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca