Subject: The "old-----" and Long-tailed DUck
Date: Mar 18 10:47:10 1997
From: Raymond Korpi - rkorpi at clark.edu


As seen by the last AOU changes, there seems to be a move toward making
British and American names more uniform (red-necked stint instead of
rufous-necked, for instance). The duck in question has a name which some
people do find offensive, but I do agree with Mike P., the name
"long-tailed duck" must go [an aside: if I've seen oldsquaws here and
long-tailed ducks in Northern Ireland, can I count it twice? :) ].
I see this name change as possibly being confusing for new birders who
would confuse the names pintail and long-tail (a shortened name I can
here being proclaimed on field trips). If the name is going to change,
and I have several other examples which show this trend, we should push
for something different than either alternative.
So jump on the Callithumpian bandwagon!! It'll match up nicely
with our summertime Calliope.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Korpi "A cat without hairballs is only half a cat."
Hm: Portland, OR --Ren Hoek
Wk: Clark College
Vancouver, WA
rkorpi at clark.edu