mango (1 Viewer)

Taphrospilus · May 16, 2019

I have some doubts on the explanaition on mango in the key:

By confusion Albin 1731, gave the name "Mango Bird" to a hummingbird, the Jamaican Mango, an error perpetuated by Linnaeus 1758. However, Olson & Levy 2013, have shown that Albin's "Mango Bird" was undoubtedly the Indian Golden Oriole Oriolus kundoo; "60. TROCHILUS. ... Mango. 16. T. rectricibus subæqualibus ferrugineis, corpore testaceo, abdomine atro. Mellivora Mango. Alb. av. 3. p. 45. t. 49. f. 2. Habitat in Jamaica." (Linnaeus 1758) (Anthracothorax).

If I look at Albin Plate 49 see attachement, I cannot identify an Indian Golden Oriole at all. And one page later we can read in the other attachment.

This Bird I had by the Name of the Mango Bird, which I believe to be an imposed Name: It is one of the Humming Birds, the Head, Black and Wings were a mixtrure of copper Colour, red and gold interchangeably mixt, very beautiful to behold; the Breast, Belly and Thighs were a velvet black intermixt with shining green; the Tail is a little more than an Inch long; The Feathers of a mixt Colour, of blew, red and green; the Bill and Legs are of blewish Colour. In the year 1701, when I was at Jamaica, I took one of these Birds in the dusk of the Evening with her Nest, which was built with Cotton in the Branches of the Phyfick-nut Trees growing in that Island, in which was two finall white round Eggs as big as Peas;

I have no clue how Olson & Levy 2013 came to their conclusion.

Anyway no idea what Mango means. I doubt is the same etymological origin as the fruit Mango.

l_raty · May 16, 2019

See also https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=277650. (With a link to Olson & Levy 2013, and an alternative theory by Björn.)
The idea was that Albin may have heard the name used for the Oriole (which is known to have been called Mango-bird at that time), then mixed up things and applied it in his book to the hummingbird that is on the plate. (Which is indeed undoubtedly a hummingbird.)

Björn Bergenholtz · May 17, 2019

I´m still kind of fond of my old theory on the possible origin of the name "Mango Bird" and the subsequent Mango Hummingbird/s ...

Note that Olson & Levy (2013) wrote:

Albin claimed, for example, that he had been in Jamaica in 1701 and had observed both of the species he discussed. We know of no evidence from Albin’s ornithological writings or other sources that would corroborate his ever having been to Jamaica. [on p.432]

Maybe they simply missed that Eleazar Albin, in his early years, seems to have been Eleazar Weiss* [possibly of German origin, some claim he was born in Cologne (Köln)]. He apparently changed his surname in 1707, when he moved to England (Weiss, meaning; white, as in albus, Albin, albino, etc.). If Olson & Levy tried to find an "Eleazar Albin" visiting Jamaica in 1701 they would have little chance of finding such a person.

At the very end of their paper (on p.343) Olson & Levy conclude:

There is no other known connection between the hummingbird and anything to do with mangos or any other word that sounds like “mango”. Thus, the long use of “mango” to denote an entire genus of hummingbirds and its more recent use to designate a significant subgroup of the family Trochilidae, appears to have been based on a historical blunder that never had any etymological justification.

Apparently they'd never heard of (or simply missed) the Jamaican "God-Birds" ... as in a possible, thinkable (Man) "God-Bird" ... !?

In my mind we´ll never know the true origin, not for sure.

Björn

_________________________________________
*Donald Heald Rare Books ; A Selection of Rare Books (Fall 2015):

ALBIN, Eleazar (c.1680-c.1742).
Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux
[...]
Eleazar Albin came to England from Germany in about 1707, changing his surname from Weiss. “To earn a living he made watercolour drawings of objects of natural history in the cabinets of wealthy collectors, such as Sir Hans Sloane, who became his patrons. When he decided to publish his drawings, these patrons subscribed to his books ... He etched some of his 306 copperplates for A Natural history of birds ... These were issued in three volumes between 1731 and 1738 ... With the publication of this book, Albin became the instigator or very early exponent of the many facets of the zoological illustrated book in England. This was the first English bird book with hand-coloured illustrations etched in part by the author himself. Albin established the tradition of an illustration of the bird and branch kind” (Jackson, Dictionary of Bird Artists)."

[unpaginated pdf, here; Search for: "Albin"]

Taphrospilus · May 18, 2019

Interesting theory. Indeed we can find e.g. in...

Connie M. Toops: Hummingbirds: Jewels in Flight. 1992, p. 13

Caciques of Taíno tribes in the Caribbean also wore hummingbird ear decorations. For them, the bird was a symbol of rebirth. On Caribbean islands, hummingbirds are "doctor birds." Jamaicans recognized the motion sharp-billed hummers use to pierce flowers for nectar as similar to the jab of a doctor using a lancet. Puerto Rican hummingbird nests are thought by natives to cure asthma. Dominicans believe nests can cure earaches, while some Cubans and Mexicans use dried, pulverized hummingbirds in love potions. Names for hummingbirds reflect their dazzling plumage. Caribbean Indians called them colibri, "sun-god birds."

...or in...

Robert R. Gillogly: A Celebration of Cheer: Sermons for the Birds, 2000 - p xviii

The Taíno word for hummingbird, colibri, means 'god-bird' or 'sun-god-bird'.

Lead me to search for Taíno and mango. And even if not in Jamaica I found:

El Mango. An early, historic Indian site (sub-Taino) near Holguin, Oriente, Cuba (Goggin, 1960; Rouse 1942: 66-71).

So it might be that mango has a meaning in Taíno language? More here about Potrero de El Mango.

Taphrospilus · May 20, 2019

In here is something written...

El mango de estos objetos rituales, tallado en costillas de manatí o en madera, tiene diversos motivos, desde pájaros y animales estilizados hasta seres humanos y dioses.

Even if I don't know what mango means in this context there is a link to even birds (pájaros). But I think mango = grip, handle. Not sure how that could fit. According here

mango(1) handle (as of a pot). [VL. + manicus: id <L. Manica. See manga (1).]

As well here.

Björn Bergenholtz · May 25, 2019

Eleazar Albin and "his" invalid (Great) Curassow/s

Here's a small detour from Martin's "mangoes" ...

Mr Albin (alt. Mr Weiss, if preferable) is/was commemorated in the scientific name "albini", as in the invalid "Hocco d'Albin; Crax Albini" LESSON 1831 (here), with one single reference to; here and the plates, No. XXXI & No. XXXII, here (male) resp. here (female) [wonderful illustrations!] ... simply: 'ex “Curassow Hen” of Albin 1734'.

If the Birth of Mr Albin is more justly (better) given as "c.1680", like in the Donald Heald Rare Books Sales catalogue (see latter link in post #3), or like "?1690", as per today's HBW Alive Key, is unknown to me. I just noted the somewhat contradictory claims (a decade apart).

Note that several sources (on the internet) lists him as either "c.1680 – c.1742" or "fl.1690 – c.1742" ... ?

Björn

PS. The same "species"/Bird ("Albin's Kugel-Hokko: Crax Albini") is also mentioned in Reichenbach's Central Atlas für zoologische Gärten (1862), here.

If of any use?

Björn Bergenholtz · May 25, 2019

Continuation on the Albin detour ...

Born i Germany, Eleazar Weiss moved to England in 1707 in his mid-twenties, changed his name to Albin, and ...

[from here]

... which, regarding his birth year (even if I haven´t got a clue of the basis for this claim) talks in favour of the "c.1680" version.

Also (for some possible clues) see The Aurelian Legacy: British Butterflies and Their Collectors, By Michael A. Salmon, et al. (2000), even if Mr Albin there is claimed to be "a Londoner" ... and, where: "He died in January or February 1742 (here and here).

For what it's worth.

/B

Björn Bergenholtz · May 25, 2019

Also, some more recent papers, if of interest in Albin (and even more so, in butterflies):

• Hunt, A.. Under Sloane's Shadow: The Archive of James Petiver ... in: Archival afterlives (Life, Death, and Knowledge-Making in Early Modern British Scientific and Medical Archives), edited by Keller, Roos & Yale (2018), here (pp.194-195).

• Vane-Wright, R.I. & W. J. Tennent. 2017. Whatever happened to Albin's Hampstead Eye? Entomologists' Gazette 58: 205-18. (here)

Maybe Sir Sloane's trip to Jamaica* (which took part in 1687-1689) can give us any clues on the origin of mango (Linnaeus 1758) ... ex Albin 1738, alt. as in/following Eleazar Albin in Don Saltero’s coffee-house in 1736 (or even back into "1701").

Who knows?

/B

_________________________________________
*The work Hunt referred to (above) as simply "Voyage to Jamaica"
= A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica [with the natural history of the herbs and trees, four-footed beasts, fishes, birds, insects, reptiles, &c. of the last of those islands; to which is prefix'd an introduction, wherein is an account of the inhabitants, air, waters, diseases, trade, &c. of that place, with some relations concerning the neighbouring continent, and islands of America. Illustrated with figures of the things describ'd, which have not been heretofore engraved; in large copper-plates as big as the life], (in two volumes, published far apart; 1707 and 1725), here and here.
--

Taphrospilus · May 25, 2019

Calalp said:
Maybe Sir Sloane's trip to Jamaica* (which took part in 1687) can give us any clues on the origin of mango (Linnaeus 1758) ... ex Albin 1738, alt. as in/following Eleazar Albin in Don Saltero’s coffee-house in 1736 (or even back into "1701").

More about Hans Sloane here.

Björn Bergenholtz · May 25, 2019

Last part on the Albin (albini/Albini) detour ...

Thanks Martin, and; yes "(which took part in 1687)" ought to have been (as I intended it, sigh) either: (that started in 1687), or (which took part in 1687–89), now corrected in post #8.

On top of that (simply as I happened to stumble upon it), even further away from the mangoes ...

Let's take a look at the Generic name Albini (not included in today's HBW Alive Key), as in "Albini Gallina. Klein", listed by Brisson (1760), here, as a synonym of "Crax Peruvianus" ... though in 1763 listed (by the same Brisson) among the synonyms for; Crax rubra. Linn. Albini Gallina. Klein. Poule rouge du Pérou.. Alb. ... (here).

To which of Theodor Jacob Klein's books the reference "Avi. pag. 112. No.4" was aimed at ... I simply do not know. Most likely a pre-linnaean work (pre-1758), as Mr Klein died in 1759 (i.e. 27 February 1759). His Historiae avium prodromus (1750), here ... ?

Anyone with better knowledge, of Klein's Work, might be luckier finding it?

Well, that's it (on my behalf ... at least for today)

albini and Albini ... over and out!

Björn

PS. Dohndorf (1796) also list it here.
--

l_raty · May 25, 2019

Calalp said:
Anyone with better knowledge, of Klein's Work, might be luckier finding it?

The quote refers unquestionably to this page of Klein's Historiae avium prodromus. Near the end of the text of species IV. Alector Brasilianus:

Albini Gallinam III. 40 pro varietate Curassai Alectoris habemus.

But indeed Klein was not binominal (and neither was Brisson, btw).

The meaning of the sentence is: "We hold Albin's Hen, vol. III, pl. 40, for a variant of Alector Curassaus."
Alector Curassaus was Klein's species III in this chapter, account starting on the preceding page.
Albin's Hen, vol. III, pl. 40, is [this].

Albini here is not a generic term, and does not act as one at all. It is not intended as denoting a group within which there would be a species named Gallina.

Björn Bergenholtz · May 25, 2019

Like the proverb say: "Empty vessels make the most noise" ...

:egghead:

/B

PS. Thanks Laurent, for the silencer, and for the correction/explanation!

mb1848 · May 25, 2019

Thank you Björn for the reference to Petiver. I had never heard of him. A small clue that Albin had access to foriegn animal specimens as asked in the second of your links about Albin's Hempstead Eye.
A letter from Albin to Petiver about a lizard.
http://sloaneletters.com/letters/letter-4163 .
Also a letter from Wm. Denham to Hans Sloane about Albin.
http://sloaneletters.com/letters/letter-2720 .

Thanks Laurent, for the silencer,

.
Was the silencer for use with the service revolver?

Björn Bergenholtz · May 25, 2019

mb1848 said:
...
Was the silencer for use with the service revolver?

Nope, its only use was to silence the "empty wessel" (i.e. me, and my poor, desperate Latin efforts). Nothing else.

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