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July 2010

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From:
Danielle <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:12:18 -0700
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I think I have to agree that in this case stone-falcon is peregrine, because I think the pigeon hawk refers to the merlin in that quote.

--- On Wed, 7/14/10, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Stone-falcon
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 9:33 AM

The trouble with such colorful colloquial animal names is that they
are often ambiguous. Old references to the "French mockingbird" can
refer either to the brown thrasher or the loggerhead shrike, for example.
       American ornithologists have been trying to banish colloquial names for
150 years--with pretty good success among birders, and in published
sources--in favor of standardized names. This has helped prevent
ambiguity. Their insistence we all capitalize these Bird Names has been
less successful, though.
       Another source of confusion is between English and US names.
"Windhover" is an example: it has a long history as the colloquial name
of what is now called the Eurasian kestrel, and because of the
similarity of the species was often applied to the American kestrel in
the old days.
       I have a hobby of collecting these odd names, and for others interested
I can recommend two sources of oodles of them: first the Dictionary of
American Regional English, a superb multi-volume reference  so large and
expensive you'll find it only in a good library, and J. K. Sayre's less
scholarly but voluminous "North American Bird Folknames and Names." For
example, the latter volume offers the following synonyms for the
peregrine falcon (note, especially in view of its range, that
French-Canadian and native American versions are included): Aile
Pointue, American Peregrine, Batarde Aigle, Beau Voleur, Bullet Hawk,
Duck Hawk, Eagle Hawk, Falcon, Faucon, Falcon Peregrino, Frappe Canard,
Great-footed Hawk, Hinkelwoi, Mangeur de Canards, Mangeur des Poules,
Peale's Falcon, Peregrine Hawk, Pinnacle Hawk, Rock Peregrine, Sea Hawk,
Tercel, Wandering Falcon, Woi."  [Sayre is so sold on capital names for
birds he imposes them even on idiomatic ones.] Other names I've found
include: ledge hawk, bluesleeves, gentel, haggard, game hawk, goose
hawk, hunting hawk, lanner, perry hawk, saker, slight-falcon, tassel,
trammel-hawk, cliff-hawk. There are surely many more.
       Anyway, the multiple slippery names of birds in use over the centuries
make it difficult to clarify the historical status of birds, and this is
a good example. Just as a guess, the peregrine's known preference for
high cliffs as nesting sites, versus the merlin's easy acceptance of
trees, makes you think "stone-falcon" is more likely to refer to the
former. But not for sure. And that's the point.
Bill Whan
Columbus






Kathi Hutton wrote:
> I was fascinated by Tom Bain's historic reference to a bird pf prey
> referred to as a stone-falcon:  "Of other birds of prey, there are to
> be found here the hawk, the stone-falcon, that remains near the
> rocks..."  and did a little Google search.  From what I read, Stone
> falcon is an old British term for Merlin, not Peregrine.  I found it
> at this site:  http://www.birdforum.net/archive/index.php/t-6640.html
> along with a number of other out-dated bird names, including Wood
> Pie, Summer Snipe, and Windhover.
> 
> ~Kathi Hutton Clermont County, SW Ohio
> 
> Visit me at: http://katdocsworld.blogspot.com/
> 

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______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
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