In the preface of “Latin for Bird Lovers” (Timber Press), Roger Lederer and Carol Burr explain the importance of binomial nomenclature, the scientific names of Greco-Latin origin that have been attached to all birds.
Foremost is being able to exactly identify a bird. (The same worthy argument for knowing the Latin names of plants.)
But the names go deeper, they write — some describing evolutionary relationships among birds, some describing characteristics of the animals, some honoring important individuals in the field. Others are related to where the bird was first found, or its color or behavior.
The authors point out that their book is not just about the origin of the scientific names. “We also try to explain a little about how and why birds are named and occasionally add tidbits of information about the birds themselves,” they write.
They have done a wonderful job. Their 224-page effort covers more than 3,000 birds (that’s not all-encompassing; there are some 20,000 entries in James Jobling’s “Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names”).
In the listings, a genus or species name is offered first, followed by a guide to the pronunciation, followed by a name and definition of the term. For example:
“Corvus KOR-vus
Crow, as in Corvus albus, Pied Crow”
And in the listing for Otus (aka owl): “Latin for eared owl, the genus name Otus probably was a reference to the feather tufts that resemble ears.” (Owls do have excellent hearing, but their ears are located at the sides of their head behind their eyes.)
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A listing of thousands of names, no matter how informative, could be deadly dry. But Lederer and Burr enliven things with more than 250 colorful and detailed images, genus profiles, stories about famous birders (including John Gould and Margaret Morse Nice) and short hits on topics such as beaks, feathers, bird songs and calls, and migration. It makes for a reference work with entertainment value.
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