The Original Coucal (or Coucals) ... (1 Viewer)

Here´s a question regarding the Common name Coucal, originally a French name, according to Cuvier 1817 (here, see foot-note, No. 5); a portmanteau word made out of coucou (Cuckoo) and alouette (Lark), though not as in Cuckoo-Lark, but the other way around; as Lark-Cuckoo (with the intention "Lark-heeled Cuckoo"*), a name allegedly coined by François Levaillant ... and this far I can follow it all (even without knowing French )

The thing I cannot figure out is Cuvier's first Reference/s: "1er Voy. pl.79. —... ". What book is that?

I assume it ought to be the book from Levaillant´s first trip to Africa; Voyage de Monsieur Le Vaillant dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique, par le Cap de Bonne-Espérance, ... (1790) ... not his "Second voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique par le Cap de Bonn-Espérance ... . (1795), but the first one (in two volumes) only includes 10 illustrations (vol 1: 4 and vol. 2: 6), and none of them of Birds.

In his major work Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique. Tome 5 (pp.71-87), Levaillant described five different birds as "Les Coucous Coucals", here [Oddly only one (possibly two) of them seems to origin in Africa!]. In this Work No.79 (in vol. 2) is "Le Bec de Fer", here ... far from any (spike-/lark-heeled) Coucal.

I´m asking as I´m simply trying to understand which species was the very first one, to be called Coucal in French. If there ever was a single one?

Anyone who know where to find the missing Plate 79?

Or, to re-phrase it: Did Levaillant ever use the name Coucal pre-1806, before the fifth volume of his Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique (1799-1808)... ?

And, if so; where?

Grateful for any assistance I can get on this one!

Björn

PS. We should all be glad that Levaillant didn´t follow the other simile candidate, with equally long claws/toes, as those Cuckoos ("... des jacanas"). If he´d followed that line of thought we could have had a whole bunch of Coucjas, or Coujacs, to keep track of!

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*Also compare with the earlier English Common name for the African species White-browed Coucal Centropus superciliosus HEMPRICH & EHRENBERG 1828 a k a Burchell's Coucal or Lark-heeled Cuckoo.

It's not very clear if you just look at this particular page of Cuvier's work, but this reference is actually the continuation of the last footnote of the previous page.

(3) Cuculus Capensis, Vaill. Afr. pl. 200. qui n'est probablement qu'une variété du commun. Solitarius, Nob. Vaill. 206. Radiatus, Sonn.

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Ier Voy. pl. 79. Clamosus, Nob. Vaill. 204, 205. Edolius, Nob. Vaill. 207, 208. (N. B. Cuc. serratus, Sparm. Mus. Carls. 3, en est le mâle; melanoleucos, enl. 272, la femelle.) Coromandus, enl. 274, 2, et une var. Vaill. 213. Americanus, enl. 816. Glandarius, Edw. 57. Flavus, enl. 814.

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This is a list of 'Vrais Coucous' (true cuckoos) from 'les pays chauds des deux continens' (the warm countries of both continents), and does not pertain to coucals at all.
The 'first voyage' there is that of Sonnerat, not of Levaillant; plate 79 is [this], which was named Cuculus radiatus by Gmelin 1788:420 [here].

Wow, there is was, is, Plate 79, in a jiffy, quick as lightning ... I really ought to know by now; simply ask Laurent.

It would have saved me several tedious, fruitless hours searching, flipping through the Works of Levaillant.

Thanks!

Björn

PS. Any sight of a Coucal, pre-1806?

Still no trace of the portmanteau name/word Coucal pre-1806 ...

Either way, just for the fun of it; here´s Levaillant´s five "Les Coucous Coucals" from his Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique (Tome 5, 1806):

• "Le Coucal Houhou", here (Plate 219) = today's Senegal Coucal Centropus senegalensis
• "Le Coucal Noirou", here (Plate 220) = today's Sunda Coucal C. nigrorufus (from Java, maybe Sumatra, Indonesia)
• "Le Coucal Rufin", here (Plate 121, error; i.e. 221) = today's Lesser Coucal C. bengalensis (from South East Asia)
• "Le Coucal Nègre", here (Plate 22, cut; i.e. 222) ... a k a "Levaillant´s Black Coucal"/"C. maurus". Doubtful taxon, known only from this Plate. Unidentifiable?
• "Le Coucal Géant", here (Plate 223) = today's Pheasant Coucal C. phasianinus (from Australia, Timor and New Guinea)

Anyone who disagree on their ID?

Björn

PS. Levaillant sure had an odd approach on the range of Africa!
Also see Rookmaker 1993 (here, p.202).

Still no trace what-so-ever of any use of the French name/word Coucal earlier than 1806. None.

And no objections on my attempt to ID Levaillant's five original Coucals ... !? I'm a bit surprised (as I know very little of those birds, never seen one, in real life!)

However; noteworthy is that when Illiger coined the generic name Centropus in 1811 (here) he referred to only two birds; "Cuculus Aegyptius, Tolu [sic] LinGmel" (1789, p.420 resp. p.422) ... which, if I´ve got it right (!?) is equal of today's subspecies (Egyptian) Senegal Coucal Centropus senegalensis aegyptius GMELIN 1789 (here) resp. today's Madagascar Coucal Centropus toulou STATIUS MÜLLER 1776 (here).

Not even there any sight of a bird being called Coucal (in those days). Neither on all the species covered in Gmelin's wide-ranging Cuculus (second link above, pp.409-422) ... though maybe interesting is Buffon's "Coukeel" for "C. orientalis" (p.410), as well as "Couckeel" for "C. niger" (p.415)!, somewhat similar to Coucal ... also the (possibly) shortened version "Cuil" for "C. honoratus" (p.413), which refer to the birds (in this version of Buffon's many works); here and here.

But as I understand it (with my poor French, and Google Translate) the name/s of those (trois, three) Coukeels are only a Bengal name for the smallest one. And the "Cuil", seems to be a local name from the Malabar coast, of India. Nothing in line with any "Lark-heeled" Cuckoos.

Either way; how does Illigers two birds (Cuckoos) in the original Centropus, above, add up with what´s written in Dictionnaire pittoresque d'histoire naturelle et des phénomènes de la Nature, ... (1835), here ... ?

Björn

PS. Also, even if a bit off-topic; note that the very first reference of Cuvier (1817), see post #1-2; "Cuculus Capensis, Vaill. Afr. pl. 200", refer to this Plate, the "Le Coucou vulgaire d'Afrique", by Levaillant (as well as; 201, a juvenile bird), however, as Laurent pointed out this species "does not pertain to coucals at all".

Coukeel and Cuil are from the Bengali name Kokil and Malayalam name Kuyil for the Koel Eudynamys scolopacea (see Ali & Ripley, 1969, Handbook Bds. India Pakistan, 3, p. 227).

Thanks James, this was in line with what I assumed.

However, I doubt Levaillant was ever in contact with the local people of India (and those particular birds), but it was worth checking it out (as those names was/is quite similar), just to be on the safe side ... thereby I will simply have to trust the words by Cuvier (1817), and his coucou + alouette explanation, for today's Coucals.

It´s an explanation as good as any. A story good enough to tell.

Fully in line with the similar explanation of the French name Courol (coucou + rollier), for the Cuckoo Roller Leptosomus discolor.

Well, that´s about it, not much more to add.

And; here´s a (final) verification on Cuvier's explanation on the French portmanteau word/name Coucal:

Un authentique exemple de mot-valise est recensé avec le terme coucal, qui ne bénéfice pas dans TIFA d'une entrée spécifique, ce qui est peut être discutable, car le terme semble plus fréquent que coq de pagode, dont il est synonyme. Coucal n'est pas de formation onomatopéique comme l'affirme à la p.2681 du tome il Le Grand Dictionnaire encyclopédique Larousse ; il est en fait issu du croisement de coucou et d'alouette, parce que les coucals présentent une grande analogie par leur forme générale avec les coucous et qu'ils ont, je cite : «l'ongle du pouce, droit et pointu comme les alouettes» ainsi que l'affirment les auteurs anonymes du Dictionnaire pittoresque d'histoire naturelle de 1834, au volume II, p.399. Selon les auteurs du dictionnaire, ce terme a été forgé par le célèbre spécialiste des oiseaux d'afrique, François le Vaillant.

[J, Schmidt, in: Inventaire des usages de la francophonie: nomenclatures et méthodologies, by D. Latin (1993), here, p.92]​

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Well, that´s it.

Coucal ... over and out!

Björn

PS. That is, of course, if no objections will appear on my various attempts to identitify those early Cuckoos/Coucals ... ?
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