Birds What's in a Name?: from Accipiter to Zoothera The Origin of Bird Names

This entertaining and informative guide explains the meanings of birdnames, many of which have fascinating origins and stories behind them.

The universal system of ‘scientific’ names, based largely on Greek andLatin, is used in all good bird books and assists birdwatchers around theworld in figuring out exactly what they are looking at. While some of thenames are fairly self-explanatory – such as Troglodytes for wren, meaning‘cave-dweller’ – others are more mysterious – Caprimulgus for nightjar, forexample, meaning ‘goat-sucker’.

Covering hundreds of bird species from around the world, Birds:What’s In A Name? includes explanations of hundreds of scientific namesand common names, as well as delivering a wealth of other facts andtrivia relating to the species concerned. In short, it’s the most readable andentertaining book on the subject available anywhere.

Anas platyrhynchos (Mallard)‘The duck with the flat beak’.

Ixobrychus minutus (Little Bittern)‘Small reed bellower’.

Strigops habroptilus (Kakapo)A bird that ‘looks like an owl, with soft feathers’.

Ptilonorhynchus violaceus (Satin Bowerbird)‘Violet bird with a feathered bill’.

Tachybaptus ruficollis (Little Grebe) 'Literally translated, this is the ‘red-collared fast-sinker’.