What's in a Name: Autumn 2000

For various reasons, mainly due to living on the island of Borneo for ten years, I had hardly talked to British birdwatchers for a while, until about five years ago. First of all 1 noticed Peewits and Hedge Sparrows had disappeared to be replaced by Lapwings and Dunnocks.

I started listening more carefully. All birds are now male or female. Ducks and drakes together with cocks and hens, let alone cobs, pens and tercels etc., no longer exist. Surely the names cock pheasant and drake mallard have more resonance than " male?."

It is generally accepted that everyday vocabulary is decreasing so I put it down to laziness, though I do enjoy mentioning Ruff and Reeve. It seemed a pity that many charming and descriptive names had died out.

However recently, while reading the introduction to Birds of New 7Raland" by Robertson and Heather( published December 1999, an excellent book, ) the following statement is made, referring to the standardisation of popular or common bird names. " This move is prompted mainly by people who list all the species they have seen (variously known as listers ,tickers or twitchers )who want to know if they can add a tick to their world list..............

If there is any truth in this statement if seems to me to be quite sufficient reason not to standardise common names. While I heartily endorse scientific standardisation and draw up lists myself consider what we are losing.

Language becomes poorer, fewer words are in common use. For Lapwing lets have Lapwing, Green Plover and Tewit as well as Peewit. A young farmer in the Ribble Valley told me apologetically: "all us lot" call it a Tewit, because it sounds like that!. Perhaps he thinks a bit more clearly than we do.

Then there is the Yaffle whose daft ringing yell is often heard around Silverdale, though sadly the Reeler or well named Screech Owl are not. Anyway, what about the Cuckoo and other onomatopoeic names ? Bear in mind those who assumed the authority to standardise names may decide to change them.

Old, common names often have a cultural or literary significance. Tomtit, Jenny Wren, Cock Robin or Redbreast appear in children's stories, while Windhover-- what a name--Dorhawk, Stormcock and many others grace English poetry. Tracing the roots of these and other names can be fascinating and amusing. e.g. Wheatear, Solan Goose, Barnacle Goose, Goatsucker, Butcher bird. and so on. Who was Mother Carey of the chickens? Interestingly literature and song suggest that Nightjars were once common round Rydal in the Lake District and, presumably, Turtle Doves wintered in England? I read an authoritative monograph stating that in the 19th. century both an Albatross and a Sea Eagle were observed in the Ribble Valley. They were definite sightings as both birds were shot. About the same time two short toed Wallcreepers ( a silly name ) were reported in Whalley ---- by a publican late one after moon.

There are many other clues in literature though Anne Grainger of Markby and Mitchell fame confuses Sparrowhawks and Kestrels. Once we standardise common names, old names die out and some books, particularly diaries, do not offer their detailed information quite so easily. In addition much information can be gleaned from maps if you are familiar with the old names. Tewitfields and Caerlaverock will be familiar to all and Throstle Nest is a common name further north. In Norfolk there is a farm with the old name for Dotterel from afield where a flock collected every year. Can anyone remind me?

It is self evident that descriptive names should be helpful in identification. Surely Pied and Barred Woodpecker bring a better picture to mind than Greater and Lesser Spotted. Outside Britain, Dollar birds, Brainfever birds and Snake birds enable instant identification to be made. On a different tack am I the only one who finds some descriptive names distinctly unhelpful e.g. Lesser Whitethroat (invisible bird), Grey Wagtail (sulphur vented), Whitefronted Goose (barred).

Most people do not speak English. Most English speakers, to stretch a definition, speak American. Is it not a bit unrealistic, on a larger scale, to set about standardising "common" names? For instance no meat eating American would give up the name "loon."

With standardisation, imagination and flexibility are lost but there is hope. There are still a few politically incorrect people around using the "wrong" names and imaginative expressions like Spotshank, Greenpecker and, charmingly, Mippet are heard.

My plea is not to sneer at these people, as some do, but enjoy the richness of your native language. If standardisation is important to you and it does have a place, then use the standard that already exists. I look forward to hearing "botaurus stellaris over there on the right" in Lilian's.

What's in a name? Quite a lot I believe.

Derek Collins