Jon -

The AOU changed the ground rules in September's 41st Supplement to the AOU
Check-list.

The exact wording is:

"Patronymic English names that end is "s" are rendered in the possessive
("s's"), as are other patronyms."

The actual changes to the species names will show up in print when the
Seventh Edition of the Check-list is released in 1998 (hopefully!).

Hope this helps.

Phil



At 08:43 PM 11/27/1997 -0000, you wrote:
> George Gerdts wrote:
> "The AOU and ABA have adopted Xantus's, Ross's, and Harris's Hawk as the
> correct spellings for these names."
>
>Hi folks,
>
>I don't know what para-professional stance the ABA may have taken, but the
American
>Ornithologists' Union (note apostrophe), in the Sixth Edition of their
Check-List of North
>American Birds, lists the common names for these creatures as:
>
> Xantus' Murrelet
> Xantus' Hummingbird
> Harris' Hawk
> Harris' Sparrow
> Ross' Gull
> Pallas' Cormorant
> Pallas' Grasshopper-Warbler
> Pallas' Sandgrouse
> Coues' Flycatcher
> Hutchins' Goose
> Perkins' Mamo
> Fuertes' Oriole
> Reeves' Pheasant
> Cabanis' Tanager
> Cabanis' Warbler
> Lewis' Woodpecker
>
>Honorific common names for those people whose names do not end with an "S"
have the
>apostrophe prior to the "S", such as "Wilson's Warbler".
>
>As an aside, since Chaetura vauxi is given the common epithet of "Vaux's"
Swift, I would
>presume that the pronunciation is: Vox-es
>
>In any case, I fully support the correct use of English rules (the use of
correct rules of English?)
> - including the use of apostrophes - when applied to our birds' names.
It's bad enough to see the language destroyed with signs like "Whole
Turkey's 33c/lb" at Safeway's.
>
>Jon. Anderson
>Olympia, Washington
>festuca at olywa.net
>



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Phil Davis

home: PDavis at ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland, USA
work: PDavis at OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
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