Dear Tweeters,

In the older books I have to hand, "Wigeon" is listed
as a variant spelling to the more usual "Widgeon."
Today, "Widgeon" is considered "wrong," as are
"Rufous-sided Towhee" and "Oldsquaw." Of course, to be
considerate, one needs to use the word "considered"
with considerable caution.

In Robbins, Bruun, and Zim's 1966 "Birds of North
America" (the Golden Guide), the book on which many
neophyte birders cut their teeth in the
nineteen-sixties and seventies, it is spelled
"Widgeon."

In the Webster's Seventh Collegiate Dictionary (1967),
"Widgeon" is the spelling. "Wigeon" is not even in
there.

In the "Larousse Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe"
by Bruun (1970), it is spelled "Wigeon." However, that
book also uses the spelling "colour." Perhaps "Wigeon"
is a British spelling.

It does appear that someone with clout decided to drop
the "d" sometime in the late 1960's, and more and more
people followed suit, to the point we have now
reached--what was once the standard is now the quirky,
quaint variation.




=====

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


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