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, Tuftedcheek 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".
Anonymous, 19 December
2005
_________________________________________________________________________________________
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 unpronounceable 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 Anonymous 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."