Thanks, Denny, for the "British terminology"

I got curious about the origin of "twitching."

Our new online OED failed me, but from Google I pulled up something on a South African source referencing a British book which is actually on Amazon:

"Regarding the term "Twitcher", I quote from Bill Oddie's Little
Black Bird Book in the section titled What am I ? What are you ?
(pp23) :-

"What distinguishes the real twitcher is his degree of emotional
involvement in whether or not he succeeds in getting a new tick.
Hence the supposed origin of the name. If this kind of birder gets
to hear that a bird has been sighted that would be a tick for him, he
is so wracked with nervous anticipation (that he might see it) or
trepidation (that he might miss it) that he literally twitches with
the excitement of it all. If he then fails to see the bird,
naturally he twitches even more in his anguish of disappointment".

If you don't have this book, get it !! It makes for some interesting
reading.

Jacobus D. van Dyk
jdvandyk at ilink.nis.za
293 Ontdekkers Road, Carenvale,
Roodepoort, 1724, Gauteng, South Africa."

Margie Palmer
Port Angeles, WA