All - Another perhaps more ribald book is GRUSON, EDWARD S. Words for Birds: A Lexicon of North American Birds with Biographical Notes. It seems to delight in the number of birds that were named after girlfriends (Lucy's warbler and others) and mistakes made by ornithologists on their scientific names (like the scientific name of Least Bittern is "greedy-eater of mistletoe"). It's a hoot to read (no pun intended). Unfortunately it is out of print, but look in your local libraries. Pete ********************************************************************* Pete Whan Appalachian Forest Area Program Manager The Nature Conservancy of Ohio Edge of Appalachia Preserve 4274 Waggoner Riffle Rd. West Union, OH 45693 Ph. 937-544-2188 fax 937-544-7030 email [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Royse Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 11:17 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [Ohio-birds] Re : Wilson question thanks There's a great little book called "A Dictionary of American Bird Names" by Ernest A. Choate. It gives the derivation for all the common and Latin names of all the N. American bird species. There is also a second section with a short bio on all the people who had birds named after them (Wilson, Baird, Townsend, Cassin, Xantus, etc.). LeConte's Thrasher and Sparrow were actually named after two different guys. Who would have guessed? There's a paperback version that sells for around $10. I probably got it from ABA sales, but you can also get it from Amazon. Robert Royse [log in to unmask] www.roysephotos.com ______________________________________________________________________ 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: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ 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: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]