[cobirds] Ludlow Griscom's (1947) essay about changing bird names.

Hi

From  chatter on the internet emerges an interesting article by Ludlow Griscom written in1947 "Common Sense in Common names." Griscom, was a power house in the early 1900s  and greatly influenced Roger Tory Peterson. The full article can be accessed through Google. I've taken the liberty of just featuring the last paragraph which I thought was the most poignant to our conversation on Bird Names.

"NO "simple and logical principles" for vernacular nomenclature can be formulated. There are far too many birds; their variations, relationships, and ranges are not simple or logical. Their habits and habitats change from season to season, from one section of the continent to another, from century to century. Which season, which habitat, which section of the country is to be the basis for the "appropriate or associative" name?"

Bob Righter

Denver CO