Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd Ed. Unabr. 1987
also states "Leucitic, adj."

Bill Kaufman
Woodinville, WA



on 10/16/06 3:46 PM, Douglas Canning at dcanning at zhonka.net wrote:

> On 16 Oct 2006 at 10:48, Julia Allen, PhD, DVM wrote:
>
>> Trying to get the definition of the word used to describe the white
>> Black-capped Chickadees - leucastic/leucistic/lecistic - various
>> spellings of the word have appeared in postings.
>>
>> Merriam-Webster OnLine lists the word "leucitic" from the word
>> leucite, a white or grey mineral (none of the other spellings were
>> found.)
>>
>> If this is not the correct spelling, please advise.
>
> The correct spelling is, I believe, leucistic.
>
> The "leuc-" combining form is defined (in part) as "1. white:
> colorless: weakly colored. (Webster's 7th New Collegiate Dictionary)
>
> Leucistic itself is not defined even in Webster's unabridged
> dictionary. It seems to be a biological term.
>
> My interpretation from the previous discussion of this on Tweeters is
> that, ornithologically, leucistic is used to describe a bird with pale
> to nearly white plumage, in whole or in part.
>
> This compares with the term albino which describes an individual with
> abnormally all white plumage (or fur) and generally red eyes.
>
> Be interesting to see what other definitions we come up with.
>
> Doug
>
> *******************
> Douglas Canning
> Olympia, Washington
> dcanning at zhonka.net
> *******************
>
>
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