Proposal (#199)
to South American Classification Committee
Change English name of the Colibri
from Violet-ear to Violetear
Proposal: This proposal, if approved, would result in the
name "Violet-ear" for the Colibri hummingbirds
becoming "Violetear".
Discussion: Warning: this proposal is likely to induce
sleep, but bears consideration. It is brought to seek approval
or rejection of an English name the usage of which appears to
show considerable geographical variation. Having worked principally
in Colombia, I was surprised to need to insert a hyphen for these
bird names when recently conforming a checklist to SACC standard.
There are two issues here: (i) extent of usage, and (ii) consistency
with other bird names.
(i) Extent of usage
The term "Violet-ear" is used for the Colibri
by most North American texts (e.g. AOU list), many international
texts (e.g. Sibley & Monroe 1990; Schuchmann 1999; Clements
2000; Dickinson 2003) and in Central America's leading bird guide
(Howell & Webb 1995). However, in some parts of the Neotropics,
particularly northern South America, the term "Violetear"
(non hyphenated) is arguably the more commonly used name (see
e.g. Hilty & Brown 1986; Rodner et al. 2000; Salaman et al.
2001; Stiles et al. 2000; Ridgley & Greenfield 2001 and Hilty
2003; though e.g. Meyer de Schauensee 1970 & 1974 and Dunning
1987 each use "violet-ear").
A GOOGLE search suggests this pattern of usage when one considers
the geographical range of each species:
Brown Violetear 308 - 663 Brown Violet-ear (Colibri delphinae)
Green Violetear 860 - 26,200 Green Violet-ear (Colibri thalassinus)
Sparkling Violetear 600 - 594 Sparkling Violet-ear (Colibri
coruscans)
White-vented Violetear 196 - 1,030 White-vented Violet-ear (Colibri
serrirostris)
Overall, it would seem that the Violet-ears have it, though the
predominantly northern Andean species C. coruscans is majority
used without a hyphen.
(ii) Consistency with other bird names
Most Neotropical birds with a compound name and a hyphen include
a modifier and a name of a type of bird: e.g. Wood-Quail, Yellow-Finch,
Wood-Rail, Water-Tyrant (and other tyrant modifiers: see proposal
187), Tit-Spinetail, Tiger-Heron.
However, almost all Neotropical birds with a compound name relating
to a bird body part do not include a hyphen: e.g. Avocetbill,
Bentbill, Blossomcrown, Conebill, Goldentail, Goldenthroat, Greytail,
Helmetcrest, Hookbill, Jewelfront, Lancebill, Metaltail, Pintail,
Plushcrown, Redstart (Whitestart), Sabrewing, Sapphirewing, Scythebill,
Softtail, Starthroat, Spadebill, Thornbill, Thorntail, Tuftedcheeck
and Yellowthroat. An exception to this is where the compound word
would be confusing, obviously "Bare-eye" and "Fire-eye"
being better than "Bareeye" and "Fireeye"
respectively and "Racket-tail" used rather than "Rackettail"
presumably for the same reason (though n.b., somewhat inconsistently,
"Softtail"). In each of these cases, the second word
after the hyphen is lower case, so that the bird is not indexed
e.g. as an "eye" but as a "bare-eye". I would
suggest that "Violetear" is not as confusing as any
of the other hyphenated body part bird names mentioned (and "Starthroat"
is arguably much worse), but if one looks at "Violetear"
with squinted eyes, it could perhaps be pronounced in a different
way.
References not on SACC list:
Salaman P., Cuadros T., Jaramillo J. G. & Weber W. H. 2001.
Lista de Chequeo de las Aves de Colombia. Sociedad Antioqueña
de Ornitología, Medellín, Colombia, 116 pp.
Stiles, F.G., Bohórquez, C I., Cadena, C.D., de la Zerda,
S., Hernández, M., Rosselli, L., Kelsey, M., Valencia,
I.D. & Knapp, D. Aves de la Sabana de Bogotá, Guía
de Campo. Asociación Bogotana de Ornitología,
Bogotá, 276 pages.
Conclusion: I have no strong views on this (admittedly)
not very exciting proposal. Thank you for reading this far if
you have! A "Yes" vote would be to change to "Violetear".
A "No" vote would endorse "Violet-ear".
Thomas Donegan, 19 December 2005
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Comments from Stiles: "YES. Actually, the best point is that body-part names be unhyphenated on principle unless a double-vowel or other combination seems likely to produce confusion or unpronouncable monsters."
Comments from Zimmer: "YES, and echo the comments by Gary concerning the desirability of formalizing a non-hyphenated construction except in cases such as "Bare-eye", when there is obvious potential for confusion in pronunciation when the hyphen is removed."
Comments from Nores: "YES. Me parece bien uniformar los nombres compuestos, especialmente en los casos como este en donde las excepciones están justificadas por problemas de pronunciación."
Comments from Pacheco: "YES. Concordo com a proposta e com as opiniões de aprovação."
Comments from Remsen: "YES. One less annoying hyphen to worry about, and as Donegan notes, removal of hyphen is more consistent with other similar English names. I think the danger of mispronunciation as "Viole Tear" is minimal, certainly not worth the hyphen."
Comments from Jaramillo: "YES - Attempting to be consistent on this issue of not hyphenating names that refer to body parts is a good idea."