On Mar 31, 2011, at 2:06 PM, Jeffjendro at aol.com wrote:

> I believe the AOU uses Gray Jay and the IOC uses Grey Jay

You are correct and this adds a useful cite for the original poster.

worldbirdnames.org is the home of the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC) English common names list. Their intent was to replace suggestion of "BIRDS OF THE WORLD: Recommended English Names" by Frank Gill and Minturn Wright.

Cite:

Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2011. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.8). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/rules.html [Accessed "March 31, 2011"].

"Official English names of birds are capitalized, as is the current practice in ornithology"

> SPELLING RULES
>
> The selection of names proved to be easier than was agreement on how to spell them. The construction and spelling of English names of birds have a significant history, including a seminal paper by Kenneth Parkes (1978, Auk 95:324-326), thoughtful treatments in the authoritative publications of the RAOU, AOU, and BOU as well as in many major field guides and handbooks. We strived to unify, clarify, codify, and extend these building blocks.
>
> Briefly, the rules that we adopted are as follows (click on >> for details):
>
> ? Official English names of birds are capitalized, as is the current practice in ornithology (e.g., Yellow-throated Warbler). >>
> ? Patronyms are used in the possessive case (e.g., Smith's, Ross's). >>
> ? Names on this list do not include diacritical marks. >>
> ? There are compromises between British and American spellings in this list. >>
> ? Those who adopt the list should spell and add pronunciation marks as preferred. >>
> ? Geographical words in a name may be in noun or adjective form but must be consistent for that location (e.g., Canada , not Canadian). >>
> ? Compound words conform to a series of rules that consistently address relationships between the two words and readability. >>
> ? Use of hyphens in compound group names to indicate relationships among species is minimized, contrary to Parkes (1978). >>
> ? Hyphens are used in compound names only to connect two names that are birds or bird families (e.g., Eagle-Owl, Flycatcher-shrike) or when the name would be otherwise difficult to read (e.g., Silky-flycatcher, White-eye). >>


"There are compromises between British and American spellings in this list." :-)

For the "anti-hyphenation" argument in bird names see (the citable) and quite entertaining (in a geeky sort of way)

Frank B. Gill, Minturn T. Wright III, Sally B. Conyne, and Robert Kirk
On Hyphens and Phylogeny
The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 121(3):649?652, 2009

http://www.worldbirdnames.org/On%20hyphens%20and%20phylogeny%20WJO%202009.pdf

> Consider green suitcases of different sizes. Why use ?big green-suitcase? and ?little green- suitcase? when ?big green suitcase? and ?little green suitcase? are simpler and perfectly clear?

So long as they're not Greenish Suitcases :-)
--
Kevin Purcell (Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA)
kevinpurcell at pobox.com
http://kevinpurcell.posterous.com
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