That seems like a pretty weak argument--birds don't have eyebrows. Does a
Great Horned Owl or Horned Grebe have horns? Does a Black-whiskered Vireo
or Red-whiskered Bulbul have whiskers? Then there's the Eyebrowed Thrush!

"Eyebrow" works for me!

Happy 1999 everyone!

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Baccus <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
To: edsplace at worldnet.att.net <edsplace at worldnet.att.net>; Tweeters
<tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, December 31, 1998 2:14 PM
Subject: Re: supercilliousness


>At 08:35 AM 12/31/98 -0800, Edwin Lamb wrote:
>>Tweets,
>>
>>Hey guys, why not use the word 'eyebrow' instead of 'supercillium? It
>>has fewer letters and more people know what it means.
>
>Well, I've never seen a bird with an eyebrow, which I've always were those
>hairy things over my eyes, though my dictionary informs me it also refers
>to the bony arch over the eye upon which that hair grows.
>
>Birds don't have hair, and the supercillium, as far as I know, is just
>a plumage mark with no skeletal feature underlying it, so the term
>"eyebrow" would seem doubly inaccurate.
>
>Having said that, when teaching beginners certainly plenty of folks
>have colloquially refered to the supercillium as the "eyebrow", I'm
>sure.
>
>
>- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
> Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
> http://donb.photo.net
>