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AOU 2017 Checklist proposals (2 Viewers)

Thanks Laurent and Björn. If Bartram had used again C. rufa from the Travels in the 1805 article that would be the scientific name. I believe that Barton's use of mihi meant he thought he had named a new bird. Many websites mention that Brown Creepers are unafraid of humans. How about common name of Bartram's Creeper or Variegated American Creeper, just not pine creeper.
 
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Bartram's Travels: [here] (it's a reprint, I can't find a scan of the original; an html version of the text is [here]). Bartram merely listed a bird as
Certhia rufa ; little brown variegated creeper.
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with a dagger in front of the name that meant (cf. [p.285])
These arrive in Pennsylvania in the autumn, from the North, where they continue during the winter, and return again the spring following, I suppose to breed and rear their young ; and these kinds continue their journies as far South as Carolina and Florida.
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This work is listed on the Official Index as non-binominal (see [Melville & Smith 1987, p.317]), thus (indeed) no name can be deemed available from it.


There is still another bird in Barton's Fragments [here], cited among the resident birds of Pennsylvania as:
Certhia fusca of Bartram. MS. Brown-Creeper. I believe this species is not described. The general colour is a nut-brown : speckled with black or deep dusky : some white spots on the first coverts. Edwards (Nat. Hist. vol. I. 26.) has a bird a good deal like this. I mean his Little Brown and White Creeper.
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Bartram doesn't seem to have used "Certhia fusca" for any bird in print. Edwards' "Little Brown and White Creeper" is [here], and is presumably some type of sunbird, but admittedly more or less "Brown Creeper-like".
The name "Certhia fusca Barton 1799" has been briefly used by the AOU for what is now Certhia americana (adopted in the [9th supplement, 1899], demoted in the [10th supplement, 1901]); this name is available, but invalid because it is a junior primary homonym of Certhia fusca Gmelin 1788 [OD] (based on Latham's Brown Creeper [here]), itself a junior synonym of Certhia undulata Sparrman 1787 [OD], now Glycifohia undulata, the Barred Honeyeater.
 
I cannot believe I missed brown-creeper in Barton. The two birds look alike proved by Linnaeus discussing C. fusca minor right after C. familiaris. But named Certhia pusilla.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/10277#page/136/mode/1up . Now it is Purple-fronted Sunbird?? http://www.hbw.com/species/purple-throated-sunbird-leptocoma-sperata . Coues was a champion for using Bartram names and held sway over the AOU for a while.
Dr. Coues has
recently sought (Auk, April, 1897, XIV, 216) to resurrect the name Cer-
thia fusca Barton (Fragments Nat. Hist. Penn., 1799, 11) and to establish
it as the proper designation for the common Brown Creeper of eastern.
North America. His proposition unfortunately found favor with the
A.O.U. Committee, and in the Ninth Supplement to the Check-List (Auk,
Jan., 1899, XVI, 126) Barton's name supersedes the long-current ameri-
cana. But Certhia fusca Barton, 1799, is preoccupied by Certhia fusca
Gmelin, 1788 (Syst. Nat. I, 472) and therefore untenable. The next
available name is apparently Certhia americana Bonaparte (Geog. &
Comp. List, 1838, 11), so that the American Brown Creeper must be
called, as heretofore, Certhia familiaris americana. — Harry C. Ober-
holser, Washington, D. C.
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Coues thought Barton's C. familiaris was Tr. aedon, House Wren. I agree the bird used nest boxes.
 
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American Treecreeper

I'm not sure it is noted above, but BLI/Lynx use this name for the 'Brown Creeper' group in Vol 2 of their Checklist.

cheers, alan
 
mb1848 said:
Creeper. I believe that Alexander Wilson is wrong. As is Kirk Roth, and Joseph Manthey , Garth Spellman, and Kevin Burns. The Pine Creeper is a warbler.
http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCprop454.htm .
http://bugsandbeasts.com/CatesbyNaturalHistory/?page=I_61 .
2017-C-2, states: Both references in Barton to Certhia pinus and Pine Creeper are to Pine Warbler using Catesby's name. (The first to write about Brown Creeper is Bartram although he does not say much. Bartram called the bird Certhia rufa the Little Brown Variegated Creeper in his Travels (1790).) Bartram named the pine creeper Certhia pinus. Bartram is supposedly not binomial but I have seen Regulus Bartram in Barton 1799. Barton names a bird House Wren Certhia familiaris mihi. " one of the most useful birds with which I am acquainted, is the House-Wren, or Certhia familiaris? This little bird seems peculiarly fond of the society of man, and it must be confessed, that it is often protected by his interested care." " Certhia familiaris (mihi.) House-Wren, Sociable Wren" "Certhia familiaris (mihi). I now suspect, that this is no other than the Certhia familiaris of Linnaeus, the European Creeper of Pennant..." Next "Bonaparte (1836), in his formal comparison of New World and Old World birds, afforded the Brown Creeper species status, giving it the name Certhia americana. Bonaparte does say Certhia Americana Nob. and refers to Audubon's picture 415 although he cites 419.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Audubon-Amsterdam-Double-Folio-Brown-Creeper-415-/381690665043 .
George Edwards painted a pine creeper (received from Bartram)which was the blue winged warbler.
http://fineantiqueprints.com/Birds/EdwardsGeorge/3574 .
Actually Bartram 1790 nor Barton 1799 describe Brown Creeper but in 1804 William Bartram publishes a Latin and English description of a Certhia in an article with the summary title Description of an American Creeper. The probable source of Bonaparte's name. The editor of the journal adds some notes. The Editor is Barton.
Page 103 of :
https://books.google.com/books?id=z...al+and+Physical+Journal&source=gbs_navlinks_s . There is a picture but I cannot find it.
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Certainly both Alexander Wilson and myself have been wrong about several things, but when Wilson was writing his vol 3 of American Ornithology in 1811, he referred to the "Pine-creeping Warbler (Sylvia pinus)" as a matter of fact in the account directly after the "Black and White Creeper (Certhia maculata). http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175516#page/22/mode/1up

He refers to other "Certhia" as wrens, but the "Brown Creeper Certhia familiaris Little Brown variegated Creeper, Bartram" is clearly our C. americana - in fact he illustrates it on the same page as his "House Wren Motacilla domestica (Regulus rufus) Bartram" in his volume 1. He attributes no Latin name from Bartram for the Brown Creeper, which is perhaps telling.

Right or wrong, by the early 1800s Wilson considered "creepers" and warblers to be exclusive entities, as seemingly did Audubon and other contemporaries. But the separation of Certhia into wrens and creepers suggests that the word "creeper" may have been understandably used at the time with more descriptive than taxonomic rigor.
 
In the LeConte's proposal, the authors state: Le Conte’s Sparrow as Fringilla caudacuta Latham 1790, but because this specific name was preoccupied by Oriolus caudacutus Gmelin 1788, the species name derives from Emberiza Le Conteii Audubon 1844. This confused me in 1788 Gmelin translated into Latin Latham's and Pennant's name Sharp-tailed Oriole into Oriolus caudacutus.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/83109#page/410/mode/1up .
Latham 1782: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/105229#page/41/mode/1up . From Ann Blackburne's collection. From New York. Pennant says the same. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/55554#page/89/mode/1up . But in a catalogue of Mrs. Blackburn's birds Pennant says they are from Virginia.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/ada698ad-5ff8-4af4-9bf9-89f73295e7eb .
Gmelin says it is from Noveboraco which I am guessing is New Brunswick?? LeConte's Sparrow was first described by Latham in 1790 from a skin or drawing of Mr. Abbot from interior Georgia.
https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217274 .
Page 459-460, https://books.google.com/books?id=QV5UAAAAcAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s . On 460 he mentions Gmelin's Oriole. In a 1968 Auk article Murray put LeConte's and Saltmarsh Sparrow in the same genus and picks Audubon's name as a new replacement name. Major John Eatton LeConte father of John Lawrence LeConte was a first cousin of Baird's paternal Grandmother. Page 93 of https://training.fws.gov/history/ConservationHeroes/baird.readings.pdf . Cassin named an African dwarf kingfisher after John Lawrence LeConte it should be in his wikipedia deal.
 
mb1848 said:
Gmelin says it is from Noveboraco which I am guessing is New Brunswick??
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in Noveboraco = in New York.
(Noveboraco is the ablative [required after in when no move is implied] of Noveboracum, a contraction of Novum Eboracum, where Novum = New and Eboracum is the Latin [and original] name of York in Britain.)
 
2017-C-13 adds Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) to the NA bird list. The committee admits that "The status of this species forms part of a current AOU proposal (2017-B-7)."
 
Proposal 2017-C-12 adds Red-legged Honeycreeper to the list from a Texas record but then spends more ink on the situation in Florida and Cuba. The author hopes to speak to Garrido about whether the bird was intrduced to Cuba. Garriddo in Cotinga 15, 2001 wrote an article Was the Red-legged Honeycreeper C. c. carneipes in Cuba introduced from Mexico? It supposedly states the subspecies was introduced in 1915 and 1919. Howell et al Rare Birds says no evidence of importation but Cuba may have been colonised by Mexican birds. The OD mentions Avicula e Cuba Seb. Mus. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/137337#page/192/mode/1up . I would like to see this. But Red-legged Honeycreepers were in Cuba in 1766?
 
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mb1848 said:
2017-C-13 ....
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a region that is geographically, physiographically, and tectonically part of North America
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At least tectonically, the westernmost two islands of the Azores (Flores, Corvo) are also on the North American Plate. :t:

2. Western Water Rail (Rallus hibernans) [Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus) in AOU 1998]
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Odd that in the section title, they call it Rallus hibernans, but then in the rest of the section, they treat hibernans as a subspecies Rallus aquaticus hibernans. Looks like the title needs correcting?

We have also seen no evidence for merging subspecies hibernans into aquaticus, and wonder whether its omission by Sangster et al. (2011) was a lapsus
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Quite possible — this subspecies is currently listed as extinct (c. 1965), and remains little-known as a taxonomic identity. Formerly bred in Iceland, where the species is now a scarce passage migrant / winter visitor (ssp. aquaticus) from Europe.
 
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a region that is geographically, physiographically, and tectonically part of North America
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At least tectonically, the westernmost two islands of the Azores (Flores, Corvo) are also on the North American Plate.
Click to expand...

Isn't that formally also true for western part of Iceland?

Niels
 
"Avicula e Cuba Seb. Mus." is a MS(?) name of a red-legged honeycreper in Albertus Seba's museum, collection. Wikipedia says "...Linnaeus used many of Seba's specimens as holotypes for original descriptions of species."
 
mb1848 said:
The OD mentions Avicula e Cuba Seb. Mus. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/137337#page/192/mode/1up . I would like to see this.
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mb1848 said:
"Avicula e Cuba Seb. Mus." is a MS(?) name of a red-legged honeycreper in Albertus Seba's museum, collection. Wikipedia says "...Linnaeus used many of Seba's specimens as holotypes for original descriptions of species."
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Avicula e Cuba: this ('little bird from Cuba') is intended to be (or reflect) the 'name' of the bird in the cited work.
Seb. Mus.: a shortcut used by Linnaeus for the work: Seba A. 1734-1765. Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio, et iconibus artificiosissimis expressio, per universam physices historiam : opus, cui, in hoc rerum genere, nullum par exstitit. Apud J. Wetstenium, & Gul. Smith, & Janssonio-Waesbergios, Amsterdam (Netherlands). [on BHL].
1. p. 96.: volume 1, page 96 [here] -- the bird is called there "Avicula de Guitguit, ex Insula Cuba", thus Linnaeus actually simplified the 'name' a bit.
t. 60. f. 5.: plate 60, figure 5 [here].
 
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Thank you Laurent! The drawing really looks like a red-legged honeycreeper. I'm jealous of the ergot alkaloids you could score in 1760's Amsterdam. That is obviously what the artist was on. If A. Seba was generally good about the source country of his specimens Cuba is one of the type locations of Red-legged Honeycreeper. Wikipedia says Guitguit is a common name from the birds call of especially Cyanerpes caeruleus.
 
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The first description of a western Nashville Warbler was done by Richardson in Fauna Boreali-americana in 1831. He saw and shot the bird on May 15, 1827 at Cumberland House in North(Central?)-Eastern Saskatchewan. He described and drew the bird "This specimen seems more intensely colored than that described by Wilson." The coloring of the underparts in the drawing is yellow.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/87232#page/333/mode/1up . Shaw described the eastern birds as Sylvia leucogaster, white belly.
Swainson named it Sylviacola (Vermivora) rubricapilla. Wilson changed the birds name in his Index from ruficapilla to rubricapilla because Latham named a bird Sylvia ruficapilla.
 
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mb1848 said:
The first description of a western Nashville Warbler was done by Richardson in Fauna Boreali-americana in 1831. He saw and shot the bird on May 15, 1827 at Cumberland House in North(Central?)-Eastern Saskatchewan. He described and drew the bird "This specimen seems more intensely colored than that described by Wilson." The coloring of the underparts in the drawing is yellow.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/87232#page/333/mode/1up . Shaw described the eastern birds as Sylvia leucogaster, white belly.
Swainson named it Sylviacola (Vermivora) rubricapilla. Wilson changed the birds name in his Index from ruficapilla to rubricapilla because Latham named a bird Sylvia ruficapilla.
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I am 100% wrong! Currently eastern Nashville Warblers breed in Central Saskatchewan. This bird was "intensely colored than that described by Wilson" because Wilson shot his bird on migration near Nashville in Tenn. while Richardson's bird was on breeding territory. Richardson's description of the bird's sounds as like whetting a saw is more like the metallic call of the eastern birds.
Wilson first mention of ruficapilla:
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175516#page/142/mode/1up .
One year later in volume 6 the general index, rubricapilla:
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/21/mode/1up .
No mention of Latham's use of ruficapilla but Bonaparte mentions this.
Faxon: https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v013n03/p0263-p0264.pdf .
Cooke: https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v029n04/p0545-p0546.pdf .
Latham page 540, https://books.google.com/books?id=1vZAAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false .
Is rubricapilla an errata by Wilson? First revisor?
 
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