Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!news.funet.fi!ra!misan From: misan@ra.abo.fi (Annika Forsten DC) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: trivia quiz answers Message-ID: Date: 14 Sep 90 11:38:49 GMT References: <1197@cluster.cs.su.oz.au> <6931@dog.ee.lbl.gov> Sender: misan@ra.abo.fi Organization: Abo Academy, Finland Lines: 28 In-reply-to: wander@csa2.lbl.gov's message of 13 Sep 90 17:06:10 GMT In article <6931@dog.ee.lbl.gov> wander@csa2.lbl.gov (ADRIAN WANDER) writes: > >9) Many ornithologists have species (common) named after them e.g. > > Audubon's Petrel. Name an ornithologist who, this century, de-named > > (declared not a good species) a bird which bore his name. Name the bird. > > > >Cox's Sandpiper. I believe in a recent paper he dismissed it as a hybrid > >though I haven't seen the paper (or the bird). I poor question 'cos its > >hard to check other answers. > > > Yes, there was an article by Cox about a year ago published in the British > magazine 'Birding World', in which he took this point of view. Unfortunately, > my copy is back in England so I cann't give you the reference. Actually, Cox has already written twice about Cox's Sandpiper in Birding World. The more recent article was this summer I think. In the previous one he only thought that Cox's might be a hybrid. In the latter article he explained why it probably was. Ie. There has been a Cooper's Sandpiper type bird caught in Australia. Of course both Cox's and Cooper's have been recorded in the USA. He felt that it is very improbable that there are two species, so very much like each other, both so rare as these seem to be, and yet real species. His conclusion was that Cox's is a hybrid between Curlew and Pectoral Sandpiper, while Cooper's is a hybrid between Curlew and Sharp-tailed. There were some more reasons for these conclusions, if anyone is intrested, let me know. Annika Forsten, Finland