Posted by Steve Siegel on August 17, 2001 at 21:41:54:
In Reply to: I REFUSE TO CALL IT ACADIAN posted by Antonio Garcia on August 16, 2001 at 19:47:35:
I have watched this discussion of Latin vs. English or even Spanish names with interest.
The Acadian flycatcher argument is an old one, as its name in the early part of the 19th century was Empidonax acadicus, a name reviled by Eliot Coues, who also stated that the bird had no connection with Acadia (Nova Scotia). The name Acadian, however, reflects the fact that this is a bird of the southern swamps, including those in Louisiana, where many French Acadians (now Cajuns) took up residence after being expelled from Canada by the British in the 1750's. The bird is common in Louisiana in migration, and deserves it name just as much as the Tennessee Warbler and Philadelphia Vireo deserve theirs, only migrating through those places.
It appears to me, however, that the real dispute in these recent pages is that some people seem to enjoy using Latin names of birds, while others, who perhaps come here to see what unusual birds are around, are confounded by having to look up a name, and then realize that it was just something common. Then there is something just a little bit elitist about using terms in common speech generally reserved for hoary old professors, that probably galls some folks.
Latin names are becoming more important, especially now that our equipment is good enough to identify lots of birds to subspecies. Perhaps it would be useful to apply both English and Latin names in posts together.