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"Buffon's Macaw" in German ... (1 Viewer)

Björn Bergenholtz

(former alias "Calalp")
Sweden
Once again stuck in my hopeless lack of language knowledge ... this time its about:

Great Green Macaw Ara (militaris) ambiguus BECHSTEIN 1811 (a k a "Great Military Macaw" or "Buffon's Macaw") once described by C. L. Brehm in his Monographie der Papageien 1842 as "Arara Buffonii" (today invalid!) but the Common name "Buffon's Macaw" managed to live on (especially in certain branches and among Caged Birds) ...

Brehm started his text with the following sentence:
"Ueber die wirkliche Artverschiedenheit dieses Vogels von dem Arara militaris bin ich noch in einiger Ungewissheit, ich habe ihm einen lateinischen Namen gegeben, um von Neuem die Aufmerksamkeit der Naturforscher auf ihn zu lenken."

Can anyone help me in translating it from German to English? If so, please, as accurate if possible, as I would like to quote him myself, in Swedish.

And ... is there maybe anything else note-worthy in Brehm's text? (attached)

PS. Does Brehm reveal why he choose to name if after Buffon instead of the more obvious Levaillant ("Le Vaillant")?
 

Attachments

  • Brehm, C. L. 1842 - p.6.jpg
    Brehm, C. L. 1842 - p.6.jpg
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  • Brehm, C. L. 1842 - p.7.jpg
    Brehm, C. L. 1842 - p.7.jpg
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  • Brehm, C. L. 1842 - Plate 8.jpg
    Brehm, C. L. 1842 - Plate 8.jpg
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About the differences with Ara militaris i'm a little confused, and not sure, but I gave the bird a latin name, to draw the attention from Naturalist to this bird.
 
Ueber die wirkliche Artverschiedenheit dieses Vogels von dem Arara militaris bin ich noch in einiger Ungewissheit, ich habe ihm einen lateinischen Namen gegeben, um von Neuem die Aufmerksamkeit der Naturforscher auf ihn zu lenken

No offense meant to Justin, but as I translate German into English and back every day I guess I'll have a go as well:
“I am still in some doubt about the true specific distinctiveness [better English would be: if this really is a distinct species] from Arara militaris, I have given it a Latin name to direct the attention of the naturalist towards it again.”
There is no indication why he'd name it after Buffon, but maybe the original descripition by Levaillant would tell you more.

Kind regards, Jan Hein
 
Justin & Jan,

Great! Thank you both for your kind help.

This will conclude my entry on Buffon.


PS. I think Brehm choosed Buffon simply since he was the one (indirectly) responsible for the (today invalid) Generic name Arara , based on the tupi Guarini name "arara" or "Ararâ" ... that they used on most sorts of parrots.
 
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